Travels to discover the source of the Nile, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 : in five volumes

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TO DISCOVER THE
SOURCE OF THE NILE,
In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773.

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IN FIVE VOLUMES.

BY JAMES BRUCE OF KINNAIRD, ESQ. F.R.S.

Opus aggredior opimum cafibus, atrox preliis, difcors feditionibus,
Ipfé etiam pace fevum. Tacit. Lib. iv. Ann.

o@.

EDINBURG H:

PRINTED BY J. RUTHVEN,
FOR. 6. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER-ROW,
LONDON. fo

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HE ftudy and knowledge of the Globe, for
_very natural and obvious reafons, feem, in

all ages, to have been the principal and fa-«

wourite purfuit of great Princes ; perhaps they were,
- at

VOL. I. a :

DUE Det. C407) Ons

at certain periods, the very fources of that great~
nels.

k
i *

Bur as Pride, Ambition, and an, 1 immoderate.

thirft of Conqueft, were the motives of ‘thefe’ ‘Tes

fearches, no real. _adyantage could poflibly accrue é

mankind in etictal: from inquiries proceeding upon:

fuch deformed and noxious principles..

In later times, which have been accounted more:

enlightened, full. a worfe motive fucceeded to that of

ambition; Avarice led the way in all expeditions, cru--

elty and oppreffion followed :. to difcover. and to de-.

-ftroy feemed to mean the fame thing ; and, what was:
full more extraordinary, the innocent fufferer was:

ftiled the Barbarian ; while the bloody, lawlefs inva-.
der, flattered himfelf with the name of Chriftian:

Wrru Your Majesty’s reign,. which, on many

accounts, will for ever be a glorious zera in the an-

nals of Britain, began the ema ancipation of difcovery

from the imputation of evel and crimes.) ~

ita bain Ce

DPEDICA TIO &.

Er was a golden age, which united humanity and
‘{[cience, exempted men of liberal minds and educa~
tion, employed in the noblett of all occupations, that.
of exploring the diftant parts of the Globe, from be--
ing any longer degraded, and rated as little better.
than the Buccaneer, or pirate, becaufe they had, till.

then, in manners been nearly fimilar..

Tr is well known, that an uncertainty pat ftill
remained concerning the form, quantity, and confift--
_ ence of the earth; and this, in fpite of all their abili-. |
ties and improvement, met philofophers in many ma-
terial inveftigations and delicate calculations.. Uni-.
-verfal benevolence, a diftinguifhing quality of Your-
“Mayjzsty, led You to take upon Yourfelf the direc--
tion of the mode, and farnifhing the means of remo-.
ving thefe doubts and difficulties for the common. be--
nefit of mankind, who were all alike interefted in

them..

By Your Mayesry’s command, for thefe great pur--
pales, Your fleets penetrated into unknown feas,.

fraught.

DEDICATION
fraught with fubjects, equal, if not fuperior, in courage,

{cience, and preparation, to any that ever before had

navigated the ocean.

Bur they poflefled other advantages, in whith,
beyond all comparifon,:they excelled former difcover-
ers. In place of hearts confufed with fantaftic no-
tions of honour and emulation, which conftantly led
to bloodfhed, ‘theirs were filled with the moft bene- —
ficent principles, with that noble perfuafion, the foun-
dation of all charity, not that all men are equal, but |
that they are all brethren; and that being fuperior
to the favage in every acquirement, it was for that
very reafon their duty to fet the example of mildnefs,
compaffion, and long-fuffering to a fellow-creature, —
becaufe the weakeft, and, by no fault of his own, the

leaft inftructed, and always perfectly im their power.

“Lawse without the ufual, and moft unwarrantable -
exceflés, the overturning ancient, hereditary king-
doms, without bloodfhed, or trampling under foot,
the laws of fociety and hofpitality, Your Mayzsty’s

fubjects, |

PHB t OFA TT ON.

fubjects, biawer, ‘more powerful and inftructed thaa

thofe deftroyers of old, but far more juft, generous,

and humane, ereéted in the hearts of an unknown —

people, while making thefe difcoveries, an empire

founded on peace and love of the fubject, perfectly

confiftent with thofe principles by which Your Ma-_

yesty has always profefled to govern ; more firm and,

durable than thofe eftablifhed by bolts and chains, and.

all dhale black devices of tyrants not even known |

by name, in Your happy and united, powerful and

flourifhing kingdoms.

Wuite thefe great objects were fteadily conduct-
ing to the end which the capacity of thofe employed,
the juftnefs of the meafures on which they were plan-
ned, and the conftant care and fupport of the Public
promifed, there fill remained an expedition to be
undertaken which had been long called for, by philo-

fophers of all nations, in vain. *

FLeEetTs and armies were ufelefs; even the power

of Britain, with the utmoft exertion, could afford no

VOL. L. b protection: -

dé

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. ta?
,

DEDIG ATION.

protection there, the place was fo unhappily cut off
from the reft of mankind, that even Your Mayxesty’s
name and virtues had never yet been known or heard

of there.

Tue fituation of the country was barely known,
no more: placed under the moft inclement fkies, in
part furrounded by impenetrable forefts, where, from
the beginning, the beafts had eftablifhed a fovereign-
ty uninterrupted by man, in part by vaft deferts of
moving fands, where nothing was to be found that
had the breath of life, thefe terrible barriers inclofed
men more bloody and ferocious than the beafts them-
felves, and more fatal to travellers than the fands
that encompaffed them ; and thus fhut up, they had
been long growing every day more barbarous, and
defied, by rendering it dangerous, the curiofity of
travellers of every nation.

.

AvTHouGH the leaft confiderable of your Maje-
sTy’s fubjects, yet not the leaft defirous of proving
my duty by promoting your *Majyesty’s declared

| plan

DED T GA TT GN.

plan of difcovery as much as the weak endeavours of
a fingle perfon could, unprotected, forlorn, and alone,
or at times aflociated to beggars and banditti, as they
offered, I undertook this defperate journey, and did
not turn an ell out of my propofed way till I had
completed it: It was the firft difeovery attempted in
Your Ma jesTY’s reign. From Egypt I penetrated
into this country, through Arabia on one fide, paff-
ing through melancholy and dreary deferts, ventila-
ted with poifonous winds, and glowing with eternal
fun-beams, whofe names are as unknown in geogra-
phy as are thofe of the antediluvian world. In the
fix years employed in this furvey I deferibed a circum-
ference whofe greater axis comprehended twenty-
two degrees of the meridian, in which dreadful circle |
was contained ail that is terrible to the feelings, pre-

judicial to the health, or fatal to the life of man.

In laying the account of thefe Travels at Your
Mayesty’s feet, I humbly hope I have fhewn to
the world of what value the efforts of every indivi-
dual of Your Majesty’s fubjects may be; that num-

bers —

BPpEDI(CA TF £ON,

bers are not always neceflary to the performance of
great and brilliant actions, and that no difficulties or
dangers are unfurmountable to a heart warm with
affe€tion and duty to his Sovereign, jealous of the
honour of his mafter, and devoted tothe glory of his
country, now, under Your Majxsty’s wife, merci-
ful, and juft reign, defervedly looked up to as Queen

of Nations. Iam,

SIR,

YOUR MAJESTY’s
Moft faithful Subject,

And moft dutiful Servant, Wi:

JAMES BRUCE.

INTRODUCTION.

| 2 pda little the reader may be converfant with an-
cient hiftories, in all probability he will know, or have
heard this much in general, that the attempt to reach the
Source of the Nile, the principal fubject of this publication,
- from very early ages interefted all fcientific nations: Nor |
was this great object /cebly profecuted, as men, the firft for
wifdom, for learning, and fpirit (a moft neceflary qualifica-
tion in this undertaking) very earneftly interefted themfelves
about the difcovery of the fources of this famous river, till
difappointment followed difappointment fo faft, and confe-
quences produced otherconfequences fo fatal, that the defign
was entirely given over, as having, upon the faireft trials, ap-
peared impracticable. Even conquerors at the head of im-
menfe armies, whohad firftdifcovered and then fubdued great
part of the world, were forced to lower their tone here, and
dared {carcely to extend their advances toward this difcovery,
beyond the limits of bare wifhes. At length, if it was not
forgot, it was however totally abandoned from the caufes
above mentioned, and with it all further topographical in-
quiries in that quarter. |

Upon the revival of learning and of the arts, the curiofity
of mankind had returned with unabated vigour towards
Vou. I. A this

i INTRODUCTION:

this object, but all attempts had met with the fame difficul-
ties as before, till, in the beginning of his Majefty’s reign,,.
the unconquerable fpirit raifed in this nation by a long and.
glorious war, did very naturally refolve itfelf into a fpirit
of adventure and inquiry at the return of peace, one of the:
firft-fruits of which was the difcovery of thefe. coy foun-
tains *, ull now concealed from the world in general.

Tue great danger and difficulties of this journey were:
well’ known, but it was likewife known that. it had been
completely performed without. difappointment or. misfor-
tune, that it had been attended with.an apparatus: of books
and inftruments, which feldom accompanies the travels of
an individual ; yet fixteen years had elapfed without any ac-
count. appearing, which feemed. to mark an unufual felf-
denial, or an abfolute indifference. towards the wifhes of.the:
public..

Men, according to their different genius and difpofitions,,
attempted by different ways to penetrate the.caufe of this.
filence.. The candid, the. learned, that. {pecies. of men, in:

fine, ,

* This epithet given to the {prings from which the Nile rifes, was borrowed: from a very,
elegant Englifh’ poem: that appeared in Dr Maty’s Review for May°1786. It-was fent .

to me by my friend Mr Barrington, to.whom it was attributed, although from modefty he

difclaims it. From whatever hand. it comes, the poet is defired to accept of my humble-:
thanks. It was received with univerfal applaufe wherever it was circulated, and a confidera-.
ble number of copies was printed at the defire of the public. Accident feemed to have-
placed it in Dr Maty’s book with peculiar propriety, by having joined it to a fragment of =
Asiofto, then firft publithed, in the fame Review. It has fince been attributed to Mr Mafon...

INTRODUCTION. iii

-fine, for whom only it is worth while to travel or to write, fup-

pofing (perhaps with fome degree of truth) that an undefer-
ved and unexpected neglect and want of patronage had ©
been at leaft part of the caufe, adopted a manner, which,
being the moft liberal, they thought likely to fucceed ; They
endeavoured to entice me by holding out a profpect of a |
more generous difpofition in the minds of future minifters,
when I| fhould fhew the claim I had upon them by having
promoted the glory of the nation. Others, whom! mention
only for the fake of comparifon, below all notice on any
other ground, attempted to fucceed in this by anonymous
letters and paragraphs in the newfpapers; and thereby ab-
furdly endeavoured to oblige me to publifh an account of
thofe travels, which they affected at the fame time to believe
I had never performed,

But it is with very great pleafure and readinefs I do now
declare, that no fantaftical or deformed motive, no peevith
difregard, much lefs contempt of the judgment of the
world, had any part in the delay which has happencd to this
publication. 1 look upon their. impatience to tee this work
as an earneft of their approbation of it, and a very great
honour done tome; and if I had ftill any motive to defer
fubmitting thefe obfervations to their. judgment, it could
only be that I might employ that interval in polifhing and
making them more worthy of their perufal. . The candid
and inftruéted public, the impartial and unprejudiced
foreigner, are tribunals merit fhould naturally appeal to; it
is there it always has found fure protection againft the in-
fluence of cabals, and the virulent ftrokes of malice, envy,
and ignorance.

A2 . Ir

Gree INTRODUCTION. ‘

Ir is with a view to give every poflible- information ‘to
my reader, that in this introduction I lay before him the
motives upon which thefe travels were undertaken, the order
and manner in which they were executed, and fome account
of the work itfelf, as well of the matter as the diftribution
of it.

Every one will remember that period, fo glorious to
Britain, the latter end of the miniftry of the late Earl of
Chatham. I wasthen returned from a tour through the great-
eft part of Europe, particularly through the whole of Spain
and Portugal, between whom there then was an appearance

of approaching war. I was about to retire toa {mall pa-

trimony I had received from my anceftors, in order to em-
brace a life of ftudy and reflection, nothing more active
appearing then within my*power, when chance threw me

unexpectedly into a very fhort and very defultory converfa-. '

tion with Lord Chatham.

Ir was a few days after this that Mr Wood, then under-
fecretary of ftate, my very zealous and fincere friend, in-
formed me that Lord Chatham intended to employ me upon

a particular fervice ; that, however, I might go down fora

few weeks to my own country to fettle my affairs, but by
all means to be ready upon a call. Nothing could be more
flattering to me than fuch an offer; when fo young, to be
thought worthy by Lord Chatham of any employment, was
doubly a preferment. No time was loft on my fide; but,

juft after my receiving orders to return to London, his

Lordfhip had gone to Bath, and refigned his office..

Tuis

INTRODUCTION. ¥

Tuis difappointment, which was the more fenfible to
me, that it was the firft I had met in public life, was pro-
mifed to be made up tome by Lord Egremont and Mr
George Grenville. The former had been long my friend,
but unhappily he was then far gone in a lethargic indifpo-
fition, which threatened, and did very foon put a period to
his exiftence. With Lord Egremont’s death my expectations
vanifhed. Further particulars are unneceflary, but I hope
that at leaft, in part, they remain in that breaft where they
naturally ought to be, and where I fhall ever think, not
to be forgotten, is to be rewarded. |

SEVEN or eight months were paft in an expenfive and
fruitlefs attendance in London, when Lord Halifax was
pleafed, not only to propofe, but to plan for me a journey
of confiderable importance, and which was to take up feve-
ral years. His Lordfhip faid, that nothing could be more
ignoble, than that, at fuch a time of life, at the height of
my reading, health, and activity, I fhould, as it were, turn
peafant, and voluntarily bury myfelf in obfcurity and idle-.
nefs; that though war was now drawing faft to an end,
full as honourable a competition: remained among men of
fpirit, which fhould acquit themfelves beft in the danger-
ous line of ufeful adventure and difcovery. “ He obferved,
that the coait of Barbary, which might be faid to be juft at
our door, was as yet but partially explored by Dr Shaw, wio
had only illuitrated (very judicioufly indeed) the geogra-
phical labours of Sanfon*; that neither Dr Shaw nor San-

fon:

* Fle was long a flaye to the Bey of Conftantina, and appears to haye. been. a man of capa--
city.

Vil INTRODUCTION.

fon had been, or had pretended to be, capable of giving the.

public, any detail of the large and magnificent remains
of ruined architecture which they both vouch to have
feen in great quantities, and of exquifite elegance and per-
fection, all over the country. Such had not been their
fludy, yet fuch was really the tafte that was required in the
prefent times. He wifhed therefore that I fhould be the
firft, in the reign juft now beginning, to fet an example of
making large additions to the royal collection, and he pled-
ged himfelf to be my fupporter and patron, and to make
good to me, upon this additional merit, the promifes which
had been held forth to me by former minifters for other
fervices. |

Tue difcovery of the Source of the Nile was alfo a fub-
ject of thefe converfations, but it was always mentioned to
me with a kind of diffidence, as if to be expected from a
more experienced traveller. Whether this was but another
way of exciting me to the attempt [ fhall not fay; but my
heart in that inftant did me Juftice to fuggeft, that this, too,
was either to be atchieved by me, or to remain, as it had

done for thefe laf two thoufand years, a defiance to all.

travellers, and an opprobrium to geography,

Fortune feemed to enter into this fcheme. At the very
inftant, Mr Afpinwall, very cruelly and ignominioufly treated

by the Dey of Algiers, had refigned his confulthip, and Mr °

Ford, a merchant, formerly the Dey’s acquaintance, was na-
med in his place. Mr Ford was appointed, and dying a few
days after, the confulfhip became vacant. Lord Halifax
prefled me to accept of this, as containing all fort of conve-
niencies for making the propofed expedition.

e fs 1H THs

INTRODUCTION. | vit

Turs favourable event finally determined me. I had: all
my life applied unweariedly, perhaps with more love than
talent, to drawing, the practice of mathematics, and efpe-
cially that part neceflary to aftronomy. ‘Fhe tranfit of Ve-
nus was at hand. It was certainly known that it would be
vifible once at Algiers, and there was great reafon to expect
it might be twice. IThadfurnifhed myfelf with.a. large ap-
paratus of inftruments, the complete of their kind for the
obfervation. In the choice of thefe I had: been aflifted. by
my friend Admiral Campbell, and Mr Ruifel fecretary to the
Turkey Company; every other neceffary had been provided
in proportion. It was apleafure now to know that it was:
not from a roek or a wood, but from my own houfe at Al-
giers, | could deliberately take meafures to place myfelf in
the lift of men of fcience of all nations, who were then pre-.
paring for the fame fcientific purpofe..

Tus prepared, I fet out for Italy, through France; and
though it was in time of-war, and fome ftrong. objections
had been made to particular: paflports folicited by our go-
vernment from the French fecretary of ftate,. Monficur de
Choifeul moft obligingly waved all fuch exceptions with re-
gard to me,, and moft politely aflured me, in a letter ac-
companying my. paflport, that thofe difficulties did not in
any fhape regard me, but that.| was perfectly at liberty to:
pafs through, or remain.in France, with thofe that accom-.
panied me, without limiting their number, as fhort or as:
long a.time as fhould be. agreeable to me..

“Cn. my arrival, at: Rome I received orders to proceed. to:
Naples, there to await his Majefty’s further commands. Sir
Charles Saunders, then with a fleet before Cadiz, had orders

| to.

will INTRODUCTION.

to vifit Malta before he returned to England. It was faid,
that the grand-mafter of that Order had behaved fo im-

properly to Mr Hervey (afterwards Lord Briftol) in the be~ —

ginning of the war, and fo partially and unjuftly between
the two nations during the courfe of it, that an explanation
on our part was become neceflary. The grand-mafter no
fooner heard of my arrival at Naples, than guefling the
errand, he fent off Cavalier Mazzini to London, where he
at once made his peace and his compliments to his Majefty
upon his acceflion to the throne. |

Noruine remained now but to take poffeflion of my con-
fulfhip. I returned without lofs of time to Rome, and
thence to Leghorn, where, having embarked on board the
Montreal man of war, I proceeded to Algiers.

Wuite at Naples, I received from flaves, redeenied from
the province of Conftantina, accounts of. magnificent ruins
* they had feen while .traverfing that. country in the camp
with their mafter the Bey. I faw the abfolute neceffity there
was for affiftance, without which it was impoflible for any

-one man, however diligent and qualified, to do any thing.

but bewilder himfelf. All my endeavours, however, had

hitherto been unfuccefsful to perfuade any Italian to put:

himfelf wilfully into the hands of a people conftantly look-
ed upon by them in no better light than pirates.

Wuite I was providing myfelf with inftruments at Lon-
don, I thought of one, which, though in a very fmall form
and imperfect ftate, had been of great entertainment and
ufe to me in former travels.; this is called a Camera Ob-
fcura, the idea of which I had firft taken from the Spectacle

3 de

INTRODUCTION. ii

de la Nature of the Abbé Vertot. But the prefent one was
conftructed upon my own principles ; I intrufted the execu-
tion of the glafles to Meffrs Nairne and Blunt, Mathematical
inftrument-makers oppofite to the Exchange, whom I had
ufually employed upon fuch occafions, and with whofe ca-
pacity and fidelity I had, after frequent trials, the greateft
reafon to be fatisfied.

Turs, when finifhed, became a large and expenfive inftru-
ment; butbeingfeparatedintotwopieces, the top and bottom,
and folding compactly with hinges, was neither heavy, cum-
berfome, nor inconvenient, and the charge incurred by the ad-
ditions and alterations was confiderably more than compen-
fated by the advantages which accrued from them. Its body
was an hexagon of fix-feet diameter, with a conical top; in
this, asin a fummer-houfe, the draughtfman fat unfeen, and
performed his drawing. There is now, I fee, one carried as
a fhow about the ftreets, of nearly the fame dimenfions,
called a Delineator, made on the fame principles, and feems
to be an exact imitation of mine.

By means of this inftrument, 2 perfon of but a moderate
fill in drawing, but habituated to the effect of it, could do
more work, and in a better tafte, whilft executing views of
ruined architecture, in one hour, than the readieft draughtt-
man, fo unaffifted, could do in feven; for, with proper care,
patience, and attention, not only the elevation, and every
part of it, is taken with the utmoft truth and jufteft propor-
tion, but the light and fhade, the actual breaches as they
fand, vignettes, or little ornamental fhrubs, which generally
hang from and adorn the projections and edges of the feveral
members, are finely expreffed, and beautiful Icflons given,

Vout % how

x INTRODUCTION.

how to tranfport them with effect to any part where they
appear to be wanting.

ANOTHER greater and ineftimableadvantage is, that all land=
fcapes, and views of the country, which conftitute the back=-

ground of the picture, are real, and in the reality fhew, very
ftrikingly indeed, in fuch a country as Africa, abounding in.
picturefque fcenes, how much nature is fuperior to the crea-
tion of the warmeft genius or imagination. Momentary
mafles of clouds, efpecially the heavier ones, of ftormy {fkies,
will be fixed by two or three unftudied ftrokes of a pencil ;
and figures and drefs, in the moft agreeable attitudes and
folds, leave traces that a very ordinary hand might fpeedily

make his own, of, what is ftill ‘better, enable him with thefe.
elements to: ufe the affiftance of the beft artift he can find in:
every line of painting, and, by the help of thefe, give to~
each the utmoft poflible perfection ; a practice which I.

have conitantly preferred and. followed with. fuccefs.

Ir is true, this inftrument has a fundamental defect in:

the laws of optics; but this is obvious, and known una-

voidably to exift; and he muft be avery ordinary genius.

indeed, and very lame, both in theory and practice, that can=

not apply the neceflary correction, with little trouble, and: —

in a very fhort time..

I was fo well pleafed with the firf trial of this inftrument: |

at Julia Cefarea, now Sherfhell, about 60 miles from Al-
giers, that I commiffioned a fmaller one from Italy, which,
though negligently andignorantly made, did me this good:
fervice, that it enabled me to- fave my larger and more:

| perfect

INTRODUCTION. xi

perfect one, in my unfortunate fhipwreck at Bengazi*, the
ancient Berenice,on the fhore of Cyrenaicum ; and this was
of infinite fervice to me in my journey to Palmyra.

Tuus far a great part of my wants were well fupplied, at
leaftfuch ascould be forefeen, but [ftilllabouredundermany.
Befides that fingle province of ruined architecture, there
remained feveral others of equal importance to the public.
The natural hiftory of the country, the manners and lan-
guages of the inhabitants, the hiftory of the heavens, by a
conftant obfervation of, and attention to which, a ufeful
and intelligible map of the country could be obtained, were
objects of the utmoft confequence.

Pacxine and repacking, mounting and rectifying thefe
anftruments alone, befides the attention and time neceflary
an ufing them, required what would have occupied one man,
‘af they had been continual, which they luckily were not,
and he fufficientiy inftruéted. I therefore endeavoured to—
procure fuch a number ef afliftants, that fhould each bear
his fhare in thefe feveral departments ; not one only, but
three or four if poffible. I was now engaged, and part of
‘my pride was to fhew, how eafy a thing it was to difappoint
the idle prophecies of the ignorant, that this expedition would
be {pent in pleafure, without any profit to the public. I wrote

to feveral correfpondents,MrLumifden,Mr Strange,Mr Byers,
and others in different parts of Italy, acquainting them of my
fituation, and begging their affiftance. Thefe gentlemen
kindly ufed their utmoft endeavours, but in vain.

B2 Ir

* This will be explained afterwards,

xi INTRODUCTION.

Ir is true, Mr Chalgrin, a young French ftudent in archi-
tecture, accepted the propofal, andfentaneat {fpecimen of rec=
tilineal architeture. Even this gentleman might have

been of fome ufe, but his heart failed him ; he would have

withed the credit of the undertaking, without the fatigues
of the journey. At laft Mr Lumifden, by accident, heard of a
young man who was then ftudying architecture at Rome, a
native of Bologna, whofe name was Luigi Balugani. I can
appeal to Mr Lumifden, now in England, as to the extent of
this perfon’s practice and knowledge, and that he knew
very little when firft fent to me. In the twenty months
which he ftaid with me at Algiers, by afliduous application
to proper fubjects under my inftruction, he became a very
confiderable help to me, and was the only one that ever F
made ufe of, or that attended me for a moment, or ever
touched one reprefentation of architecture in any part of my
journey. He contracted an incurable diftemper in Paleftine,
and died after a long ficknefs, foon after I entered Ethiopia,
after having fuffered conftant ill-health from the time he
left Sidon.

Waite travelling in Spain, it was a thought which fre-
quently fuggefted itfelf to me, how little informed the
world yet was in the hiftory of that kingdom and mo-
narchy. ‘Fhe Moorith part in particular, when it was moft
celebrated for riches and for feience, was fcarcely known
but from fome romances or novels. It feemed an under-
taking worthy of a man of letters to refcue this period
from the oblivion or neglect under which it laboured.
Materials were not wanting for this, as a confiderable num-
ber of books remained in a neglected and almoft unknown
language, the Arabic. I endeavoured to find accefs to fome

of

J a

INTRODUCTION. X1il

of thofe Arabian manufcripts, an immenfe collection of
‘which were every day perifhing in the duft of the efcurial, ,
and was indulged with feveral converfations of Mr Wall,
then minifter, every one of which convinced me, that the
objections to what I wifhed were founded fo flrongly
in prejudice, that it was not even in his power to remove
them.

Aut my fuccefs in Europe terminated in the acquifition
of thofe few printed Arabic books that I had found in Hol-
_ land, and ‘thefe were rather biographers than general hitfto-
rians, and contained little in point of general information.
The ftudy of thefe, however, and of Maracci’s Koran, had
made me a very tolerable Arab; a great field was opening
before me in Africa to complete a collection of manufcripts,
an opportunity which I did not negleé.

AFTER a year {pent at Algiers, conftant converfation with
the natives whilft abroad, and with my manufcripts within
doors, had qualified me to appear in any part of the conti-
nent without the help of an interpreter. Ludolf* had af-
fured his readers, that the knowledge of any oriental lan-
guage would foon enable them to acquire the Ethiopic, and
I needed only the fame number of books to have made my
knowledge of that language go hand in hand with my at-
tainments inthe Arabic. My immediate profpect of fetting
out on my journey to the inland parts of Africa, had made
me double my diligence; night and day there was no re-
Jaxation from thefe ftudies, although the acquiring any

fingle

4 =

* Ludolf, lib. i. cap. 15.

X1V IN TRODUC TION.

fingle language had never been with me either an objectof
time or difficulty. |

Ar this inftant, inftead of obtaining the liberty I had fo-
licited to depart, orders arrived from the king to expect his
further commands at Algiers, and not to think of ftirring
from thence, till a difpute about paffports was fettled, in
which I certainly had no concern, further than as it regard-
ed me as his Majefty’s actual fervant, for it had originated
entirely from the neglect of the former conful’s letters: di-
rected to the fecretary of {tate at home, before my coming to
Algiers.

Tue ifland of Minorca had been taken by the French; and
when the fort of St Philip furrendered by an article common
to all capitulations, it was ftipulated, that all papers found
in the fort were to be delivered to the captors. lt happened
that among thefe was a number of blank Mediterranean
paffes, which fell therefore into the hands of the French,
and the blanks were filled up by the French governor and
fecretary, who-very naturally wifhed toembroil us with the

Barbary ftates, it being then the time of war with France. |

They were fold to Spaniards, Neapolitans, and other ene-
mies of the Barbary regencies. The .check* (the only proof
that thefe pirates have of the veflels being a friend) agreed
perfectly with the paffport filled up by the French gover-
nor, but the captor feeing that the crew of thefe veflels
were dark-coloured, wore muftachoes, and {poke no Englifh,
carried the veffel to Algiers, where the Britifh conful detect-

ed

* This is a running ‘figure cut through the middle like the check-of a bank note..

> pe PUG ee

INTRODUCTION XV

ed the fraud, and was under the difagreeable neceflity of
furrendering fo many Chriftians into flavery in the hands
of their enemies.

One or two fuccefsful difcoveries of this kind made the
hungry pirates believe that the paffport of every veffel they
met with, even thofe of Gibraltar, were falfe in themfelves,
and iffued to protect their enemies.- Violent commotions
were excited amongft the foldiery, abetted under hand
by feveral of the neutral confuls there. By every occa-
fion I had wrote home, but in vain; and the Dey could ne-
ver be perfuaded of this, as no anfwer airived. Govern-
ment was occupied with winding up matters at the end
of a war, and this negle& of my letters often brou ght me:
into great danger. At laft atemporary remedy was found,
whether it originated from home, or whether it was in-
vented by the governor of Mahon and Gibraltar, was ne-
ver communicated to me, but a furer and more effectual
way of having all the nation at Algiers mafiacred could
certainly not have been hit upon.

SQUARE pieces Of common paper, about the fize of a
quarter-fheet, were fealed with the arms of the governor
of Mahon, fometimes with red, fometimes with black. wax,,.
as the family circumftances of that officer required. Thefe:
were figned by his fignature, counterfigned by that of his fe-
eretary,and contained nothing’more than a bare and fimple
declaration, that the veffel, the bearer of it, was Britifh proper-
ty. Thefepapers were called Pafavants. The cruifer, uninftruc-
ted in this when he boarded a veffel, afked for his Mediter-
ranean pafs. The mafter anfwered, He had none, he had
enly a paffavant, and fhewed the paper, which having no

Beste check,

tél INTRODUCTION.

check, the cruifer brought him and his veffel asa good
prize into Algiers. Upon my claiming them, as was my
duty, | was immediately called before the Dey and divan, and
had it not been from perfonal regard the Turks always
fhewed me, I fhould not have efcaped the infults of the
foldiery in my way to the palace. The Dey afked me, up-
on my word as a Chriftian and an Englifhman, whether
thefe written paffes were according to treaty, or whether
the word faffavant was to be found in any of our treaties
with the Moorifh regencies? All equivocation was ufelefs.
I anfwered, That thefe paffes were not according to treaty ;
that the word gaffavant was not in any treaty I] knew of
with any of the Barbary flates; that it was a meafure ne-
ceffity had created, by Minorca’s falling into the hands of
the French, which had never before been the cafe, but that
the remedy would be found as foon as the greater bufinefs of
fettling the general peace gave the Britifh miniftry time to
breathe. Upon this the Dey, holding feveral safavanis in his
hand, anfwered, with great emotion, in thefe memorable
terms, “ The Britifh government know that we can neither
read nor write, no not even our own language; we are igno-
rant foldiers and failors, robbers if you will, though we do
not wiih to rob you; but war is our trade, and we live by that
only. Tell me how my cruifers are to know that all thefe
different writings and feals are Governor Moftyn’s, or Go-
vernor Johnifton’s, and not the Duke of Medina Sidonia’s, or
Barcelot’s, captain of the king of Spain’s cruifers?” It was
impoffible to anfwer a queition fo fimple and fo dired&. I
touched then the inftant of being cut to pieces by the fol-
diery, or of having the whole Britifh Mediterranean trade
carried into the Barbary-ports. The candid andsopen man-
ner in which I had fpoken, the regard and efteem the Dey

i au always

INTRODUCTION. xvii

always had fhewed me, and fome other common methods
with the members of the regency, ftaved off the dangerous
moment, and were the means of procuring time. Admi-
ralty pafles at laft came out, and the matter was happily ad-
jufted; but it was an affair the leaft pleafing and the leatt
profitable, and one of the moft dangerous in which I was
ever engaged.

Aut this difagreeable interval I had given to ftudy, and
‘making myfelf familiar with every thing that could be ne-
ceflary to mein my intended journey. The king’s furgeon
at Algiers, Mr Ball, a man of confiderable merit in his, pro-
feffion, and who lived in my family, had obtained leave to
return home. Before I was deprived of this afliftance, I
had made a point of drawing from it all the advantages pof-
fible for my future travels. Mr Ball did not grudge his
time or pains in the inftruétion he gave me. I had made
myfelf mafter of the art of bleeding, which I found confift-
ed only in alittle attention, and in overcoming that diffi-
dence which the ignorance how the parts lie occafions. Mr
Ball had fhewn me the manner of applying feveral forts of
bandages, and gave me an idea of drefling fome kinds of
fores and wounds. Frequent and very ufeful leffons, which
I alfo received from my friend Doctor Ruffel at Aleppo,
contributed greatly to improve me afterwards in the know-
ledge of phyfic and furgery. [had afmall cheft of the moft
efficacious medicines, a difpenfary to teach me to com-
pound others that were needful, and fome fhort treatifes up-
on the acute difeafes of feveral countries within the tro-
pics. Thus inftructed, I flatter myfelf, no offence I hope,
I did not Mion a greater mortality among the Maho-
metans and Pagans abroad, than may be attributed to

WoL. 1 c i fome

=

xviii INTRODUCTION. | q

fome of my brother phyficians among their fellow-Chrifi- _
ans at home. .

Tue rev. Mr Tonyn, the king's chapiain’ at-Algiers, was:
abfent upon leave before I arrived. in that. regeney.. The-
Proteftant fhipmafters who came into the port,and had.
need of fpiritual affiftance, found here a blank that was not:
eafily filled up; I fhould therefore have been obliged to»
take upon myfelf the difagreeable office of burying: the:
dead, and the more chearful, though more troublefome one, .
of marrying and baptizing:the living’, matters that were:
entirely out of my way, but to which the Roman Catholic.
clergy would contribute no affiflance. .

THERE was a Greek prieft, a native of Cyprus, a very ve=-
nerable man, paft feventy years of age, who had attached:
himfelf to me from my firftarrival.in Algiers. This man.
was ofa very focial’and chearful: temper, and-had, befides, .
a more than ordinary knowledge of:his own language. I:
had taken him to my houfe as my.chaplain, read Greek.
with him daily, and {poke it at times when I could receive.
his correction and‘ inftruction.. It was not that I, at this
time of day, needed’ to learn: Greek,. I. had tong. un--
derftood that language perfectly ;: what I:wanted was the:
pronunciation, and reading by accent, of which the gener--
ality of Englifh fcholars are perfectly ignorant, and to which:
it is owing that they apprehend: the Greek: fpoken and:
written in the Archipelago-is materially different from.
that language which we read in: books, and which a few.
weeks converfation in the iflands will teach tl em it isnot.
had in this, at that time, no other view tham mere con--.
yenience during my paflage through the Archipelago,

| which: .

INTRODUCTION. “xix

*wyhich I intended to vifit, without any defign of continuing

‘or ftudying there: But.the reader will afterwards fee of
~what very material fervice this acquaintance was to me, fo
very effential, indeed, that it contributed more to the fuccefs
of my views in Abyflinia than any other help that I obtain-
ed throughout the whole of it. This man’s name was -Pa-
dre Chriftophoro, or.Father Chriftopher. .At my leaving Al-
giers, finding himfelf lefs conveniently fituated, he went to
Egypt, to Cairo, where he was promoted to be fecond in
xank under Mark, patriarch of Alexandria, where I after-
wards found him.

‘Business of a private nature had at this time obliged me
to prefent myfelf at Mahon, a gentleman having promifed
to meet me there; I therefore failed. from Algiers, having
taken leave of the Dey, who furnifhed me with every letter

that I afked, with ftrong and peremptory orders to all the
officers of his own dominions, prefling recommendatory
“ones to the Bey of Tunis and Tripoli, ftates indepen-
dent, indeed, of the Dey of Algiers, but over which the
circumftances of the times had given hima confiderable in-
fluence.

Tue violent difputes about the paffports had rather raif-
ed than lowered mein his efteem. The letters were given
with the beft grace poflible, and -the orders contained in
them were executed moft exactly in all points during my
whole ftay in Barbary. Being difappointed in the meeting
2 looked for at Mahon, I remained three days in Quarantine
ifland, tho General Townfend, then deputy- governor, by
every cil and.attention in his power, ftrove to induce

| 7 ‘cl2 me

xX INTRODUCTION.

me to come on fhore, that he might have an opportunity of

fhewing me ftill more attention and politenefs.

- My mind being now full of more agreeable ideas than
what had for fome time paft occupied it, I failed in a {mall

veffel from Port Mahon, and, having a fair wind, in’a fhort |

time made the coaft of Africa, at a cape, or headland, called

Ras el Hamra *, and landed at Bona, a confiderable town, the
ancient Aphrodifium +}, built from the ruins of Hippo Re-

gius {, from which it is only two miles diftant. It ftands on

a large plain, part of which feems to have been once over-.

flowed by the fea, Its trade confifts now in the exporta-
tion of wheat, when, in plentiful years, that trade is per-
mitted by the government of Algiers. I hada delightful

voyage clofe down the coaft, and paffed the fmall ifland
Tabarca §, lately a fortification of the Genoéfe, now in the

hands of the regency of Tunis, who took it by furprife,'and
made all the inhabitants flaves. The ifland is famous for
a coral fifhery, and along the coaft are immentfe forefts of
large beautiful oaks, more than fufficient to fupply the ne-
ceffities of all the maritime powers in the Levant, if the qua-

lity of the wood be but equal to the fize and beauty of the:

tree.

From Tabarca I failed and anchored at Biferta, the Hippo-

zaritus || of antiquity, and thence went to pay a vifit to. -

Utica, out of refpect to the memory of Cato, without having
fanguine expectations of meeting any thing remarkable

there,

* Hippo. Reg. from Ptol. Geog, lib. iv. p. 109. | + Hippo. Reg. id. ib.
t Aphrodifium. id. ib, § Thabarca, id. ib. jf Plin. Ep, xxxiii-l, 9.

INTRODUCTION. _ i RARE

there, and accordingly [ found nothing memorable but the
name. It may be faid nothing remains of Utica but a
heap of rubbith ‘and of fmall ftones; without the city
the trenches and approaches of the ancient befiegers are
full very perfect.

Arter doubling Cape Carthage I anchored before the
fortrefs of the Goletta, a place now of no ftrength, notwith-
ftanding the figure it made at the time of the expedition of
Charles V. Rowing along the bay, between the Cape and
this anchorage, I faw feveral buildings and columns ftill
ftanding under water, by which it appeared that old Car-
thage had owed part of its deftruction tothe fea, and hence
likewife may be inferred the abfurdity of any attempt to
reprefent the fite of ancient Carthage-upon paper. It has
been, befides, at leaft ten times deftroyed, fo that the ftations,
where its firft citizens fell fighting for their liberty, are
covered deep in rubbifh, far from being trodden upon by
thofe unworthy flaves who now are its matters.

Tunis * is twelve miles diftant from this : It is a large and
flourifhing city. The people are more civilized than in
Algiers, and the government milder, but the climate is very
far from being fo good. Tunis is low, hot, and damp, and
deftitute of good water, with which Algiers is fupplied from
a thoufand {prings.

I DELIVERED my letters from the Bey, and obtained per-
miffion to vifit the country in whatever direction I fhould

ty pleafe,
4

* Liv. Epit. xxx. 1.9,

al

xx INTRODUCTION.

pleafe. I.took with me a French renegado, of.the name .of
Ofman, recommended to me by Monfieur Bartheleny de
Saizieux, conful of France to that ftate; a gentleman
whofe eonverfation and friendfhip furnifh me full with
fome of the moft agreeable reflections that refult from
my travels. With Ofman I took ten fpahi, or horfe-
_foldiers, well armed. with firelocks.and piftals, excellent
horfemen, and, as far as Icould ever difcern upon the few
occafions that prefented, as eminent for. cowardice, at leaft,
as they were for horfemanfhip. This was not the cafe
with Ofman, who was very brave, but he needed a fharp
look-out, that he did not often embroil us where there was
accefs to women or to wine,

“One of the moft agreeable favours T received was from a
lady of the Bey, who furnifhed me with a two-wheeled
covered cart, exactly like thofe of the bakers in England.
In this I fecured my quadrant and telefcope from the wea-
ther, and at times put likewife fome.of the feebleft of my
attendants. Befides thefe I had ten fervants, two of whom
were Irifh, who having deferted from the Spanifh regi-
ments in Oran, and being Britifh born, though. flaves, as
‘being Spanith foldiers, were given tome at parting by the
Dey of Algiers,

TuE coaft along which I had failed was ‘part of Numidia
and Africa Proper, and there I met with noruins. I refol-

ved now to diftribute my inland journey through the king-

dom of Algiers and Tunis. In order to comprehend the
whole, 1 firft fet out along the river Majerda, through a
ountry perfectly cultivated and inhabited by people under

2 the

INTRODUCTION. Xin

ehe controul of government, this river was the ancient Bag--
rada*.

Arrer pafling a triumphal arch of bad tafte at Bafil-ba, .
Tcame the next day to Thuggay, perhaps more properly
called-Tucca, and: by the inhabitants Dugga: The reader in>
this part fhould have Doctor Shaw’s Work before him, my
map of the journey not being yet publifhed ; and, indeed, .
after Shaw’s, it is fcarcely neceflary to thofe who need only
an itinerary, as, befides. his own obfervations, he had for ba--
fis thofe of Sanfon..

I rounpD at Dugepa a large fcene of ruins, among which:
one building was eafily diftinguifhable.. It was a‘ large
temple of the Corinthian order, all of Parian marble, the co- |
lumns fluted, the cormice highly ornamented in the very
beft ftyle of feulpture. In the tympanum isan eagle flying |
to heaven,-with ahuman figure upon’ his: back, which, by
the many infcriptions that are {till remaining, feems to be
intended -for that of Trajan, and the apotheofis:‘of thar em-
peror to be the fubject; the temple having been erected by
Adrian to that prince, His benefactor and predeceflor.- I:
_ {pent fifteen days upon the architecture of this temple with--
out feeling the fmalleft difguft, or forming a with to finith it;
itis, with all its parts, ftill unpublifhedin my collection. Thefe
beautiful’ and maguificent’ remains of ancient tafte and
-greatnefs, fo eafily reached in perfect fafery, by a ride along
the Bagrada, full as pleafant and.as fafe as along the Thames

between :

a EEE RE A PB SR LE TET RN SE

* Strabo lib xvii. p. 1189. It fignifies the river of Cows, or Kine. P. Mela lib. i.
cap, 7. Sil. It. lib, vi. 1.140. + Ptol. Geog, libs iy, Procop, lib. vis cap. 5. de ARdif..

XX1V INTRODUCTION.

between London and Oxford, were at Tunis totally un-
known. Doctor Shaw has given the fituation of the place,
without faying one word about any thing curious it con-
tains. |

- From Dugga I continued the upper road to Keff *, for-
merly called Sicca Venerea, or Venerea.ad Siccam, through
the pleafant plains inhabited by the Welled Yagoube. I
then proceeded to Hydra, the Thunodrunum f+ of the an-
cients. This is a frontier place between the two kingdoms
of Algiers and Tunis, as Keff is alfo, It is inhabited by a tribe
of Arabs, whofe chief is a marabout, or faint; they are
called Welled Sidi Boogannim, the “ fons of the father of
flocks.”

Tuese Arabs are immenfely rich, paying no tribute ei-
ther to Tunis or Algiers. The pretence for this exemption
is a very fingular one. By the inftitution of their founder,
they are obliged to live upon lions flefh for their daily
food, as far as they can procure it; with this they ftrictly
comply, and, in confideration of the utility of this their vow,
they are not taxed, like the other Arabs, with payments to
the ftate. The confequence of this life is, that they are ex-
cellent and well-armed horfemen, exceedingly bold and
undaunted hunters. It is generally imagined, indeed, that
thefe confiderations, and that of their fituation on the fron-
tier, have as much influence in procuring them exemption
from taxes, as the utility of their vow.

2 ) "THERE

* Val. Max. lib, ii. cap. 6. § 15. + Ptol. Geog. lib. iv.

INTRODUCTION. XxX¥

Tuere is at Thunodrunum a triumphal arch, which Dr
Shaw thinks is more remarkable for its fize than for its
tafte or execution ; but the fize is not extraordinary ; on the
other hand, both tafte and execution are.admirable. It is,
with all its parts, in the King’s collection, and, taking the
whole together, is one of the moft beautiful land{capes in
black and white now exifting. The diftance, as well as the
fore-ground, are both from nature, and exceedingly well
calculated for fuch reprefentation.

Berore Dr Shaw’s travels fir{t acquired the celebrity they
have maintained ever fince, there was a circumftance that
very nearly ruined their credit. He had ventured to fay in
converfation, that thefe Welled Sidi Boogannim were eaters
of lions, and this was confidered at Oxford, the univerfity
where he had ftudied; as a traveller’s licenfe on the part of
the Doctor. They took it as a fubverfion of the natural or-
der of things, that a man fhould eat a lion, when it had
long pafled as almoft the peculiar province of the lion to
eat man. The-Doctor flinched under the fagacity and fe-
verity of this criticifm ; he could not deny that the Welled
Sidi Boogannim did eat lions, as he had repeatedly faid ;
but he had not yet publithed his travels, and therefore left
it out of his narrative, and only hinted at it after in his ap-
pendix.

Wir all fubmuflion to that learned univerfity,I will not
difpute the lion’s ticle to eating men; but, fince it is not
founded upon patent, no confideration will make me ftifle
the merit of Welled Sidi Boogannim, who.have turned the
chace upon the enemy. It is an hiftorical fact; and I will
not fuffer the public to be mifled by a mifreprefentation

Vou. I. : D of’

ssvi SS NRG ENLaAN.

of it; on the contrary, I do aver, in the face of.thefe fantaf--

tic prejudices, that I have ate the fleth of lions, that is, part

of three lions, in the tents of Welled Sidi Boogannim.. The-
firft was a he-lion, lean, tough, fmelling violently of mufk,.
and had the tafte which, I imagine, old horfe-flefh would:

have. The fecond was a lionefs, which they faid had that

year been barren. She had a,confiderable quantity of fat-
within her; and, had it not been for the mufky f{mell that.
the flefh had, though in a lefler degree than the former, ,

and for our foolith prejudices againft it, the meat, when

broiled, would not have been very, bad. The third was a
a lion’s whelp, fix or feven months old; it tafted, upon the -
whole, the worft of the three. I confefs.I have no defire:
of being again ferved with fuch a morfel; but the Arabs, .
a brutith and ignorant folk, will, I fear, notwithftanding.
the difbelief of the univerfity of Oxford, continue to eat lions:

as long as they exift,

From. Hydra I paffed to the ancient Tipafa *; another-
Roman colony, going by the fame name to this day. Here-
is a moft extenfive fcene of ruins, There isa large tem-.
ple, and a four-faced triumphal arch of the Corinthian or-
der, in the very beft tafte; both. of which are now in. the:

collection. of the King.

I ners croffed the river. Myfkianah, which falls: into the.
Bagrada, and continuing through one of the moft beautiful.

and beft-cultivated countries in the world, I entered the

eaftern province of Algiers, now called Conftantina, ancient-.

ly.

*-Ptol, Geog. lib, iv. p. 106. a

”

_*

eng eogt

4
,
2) tees poke |
j ge ee eee ep)
oe ee ee

INTRODUCTION. xxvii

ly the Mauritania Cxfarienfis, whofe capital, Conftantina, is
the ancient metropolis of Syphax. It was called Cirta *,
and, after Julius Cefar’s conqueft, Cirta Sittianorum, from:
Caius Sittius who firft took it. It is fituated upon a high,
gloomy, tremendous precipice. Part only of its aqueduct
remains: the water, which once was carried into the town,
now fpills itfelf from the top of the cliff into a chafm, or
narrow valley, above four hundred feet below. The view
of it is in the-King’s collection; a band of robbers, the
ficures which adorn it, is a compofition from imagination ;
all the reft is perfectly real.

Tue Bey was at this time in his camp, ashe was making
war with the Hanneifhah, the moft powerful tribe of Arabs
in that province. After having refrefhed myfelf in the
Bey’s palace I fet out to Seteef, the Sitifit of antiquity, the
eapital of Mauritania Sitifenfis, at fome diftance from which
I joined the Bey’s army, confifting of about 12,000 men, with
four pieces of cannon. After ftlaying a few days with the
Bey, and obtaining his letters of recommendation, I proceed-
ed to Taggou-zainah, anciently Diana Veteranorum}, as we
learn by an infcription on a triumphal arch of the Corin-
thian order which I found there. |

From Taggou-zainah I continued my journey nearly
firaight S. E. and arrived at Medrafhem, a fuperb pile of
building, the fepulchre of Syphax, and the other kings of
gies Ste and where, as the Arabs believe, were alfo depo-

ae all | fited

~* Prol, Geog. lib, iv. p. 111. + Prol. Geog. lib. iv. p- 108-
$ Vide Itin. Anton.

evil INTRODUCTION,

fited the treafures of thofe kings. A drawing of this monu-
ment is ftill unpublifhed in my collection. Advancing ftill
to the S. E. through broken ground and fome very barren
valleys, which produced nothing but gamie, I came to Jib-
bel Aurez, the Aurafius Mons of the middle age. This is
not one mountain, but an affemblage of many of the mor.
craggy fteeps in Africa.

Here I met, to my great aftonifhment, a tribe, who, if I
cannot fay they were fair like Englifh, were of a fhade
lighter than that of the inhabitants of any country to the
fouthward of Britain. Their hair alfo was red, and their
eyes blue. They are a favage and independent people ; it
required addrefs to approach them with fafety, which, how-
ever, I accomplifhed, (the particulars would take too much
room for this place), was well received, and at perfect li-
berty to do whatever I pleafed. This tribe is called Neardie..
Each of the tribe, in the middle between their eyes, has z
Greek crofs marked with antimony. They are Kabyles:.
Though living in tribes, they have among the mountains:
huts, built with mud and ftraw, which they call Dafhkras,
whereas the Arabs live in tents on the plains. I imagine
thefe to be aremnant of Vandals, Procopius* mentions a
defeat of an army of this nation here, after a defperate re-
fiftance, a remnant of whieh may be fuppofed to have main-
tained themfelves in thefe mountains. They with great
pleafure confeffed their anceftors had been Chriftians, and
feemed to rejoice much more in that relation than in any
connection with the Moors, with whom they live in rey

- tual

% Proccp. Bell. Vand. lib. ii. cap. 13,

ere PEPE DAE ey
. ee BOTat

INTRODUCTION Ae

tual war: they pay no taxes to the Bey, but live in conftant
defiance of him. | |

As this is the Mons Audus of Ptolemy, here too muft be
fixed his Lambefa*, or Lambefentium Colonia, which, by a
hundred Latin infcriptions remaining on the fpot, it is atteft-
ed to have been. It is now called Tezzoute: the ruins of
the city are very extenfive. There are feven of the gates
fiill ftanding, and great pieces of the walls folidly built
with fquare mafonry without lime. The buildings remain-
ing are of very different ages, from Adrian to Aurelian, nay
even to Maxiriin. One building only, fupported by columns
- of the Corinthian.order, was in good tafte; what its ufe was
I know not. The drawing of this is in the King’s collec-
tion. It was certainly defigned for fome military purpofe,
by the fize of the gates; I fhould fufpect a ftable for ele-
phants, or a repofitory for catapulta, or other large military
machines, though there are no traces left upon the walls in-
dicating either. Upon the key-ftone of the arch of the
principal gate there is a baflo-relievo of the ftandard of a
legion, and upon it an infcription, Legio tertia Augutta,
which legion, we know from hiftory, was quartered here.
Dr Shaw} fays, that there is here a neat, round, Corinthian
temple, called Cubb el Arroufah, the Cupola or Dome of the
Bride or Spoufe. Such a building does exift, but it is by no
means of a good tafte, nor of the Corinthian order; but of
a long difproportioned Doric, of the time of Aurelian, and
does not merit the attention of any architect. Dr Shaw

never

* Pol, Geog. lib. iv. p. 151. + Shaw’s Travels, chap. viii, p. 57-

XXX INTRODUCTION.

never was fo far fouth az Jibbel Aurez, fo could only on
this from report.

From Jibbel Aurez nothing occurred in the ftyle of ar-.
-chite@ture that was material. -Hydra remained on the left
hand. I came to Caffareen, the ancient Colonia Scillitana*, |
where I fuffered fomething both from hunger and from fear.
The country was more rugged and broken than any we.
had yet feen, and withal lefs fruitful and inhabited. The
Moors of thefe parts.are a.rebellious tribe, called Nemem-
fhah, who had fled from their ordinary obligation of attend-
ing the Bey, and had declared themfelves on the part of
the rebel-meors, the Henneifhah.

‘My intentions now -were to reach Feriana, the Thala +
of the ancients, where I expected confiderable fubjects for
ftudy ; but in this | was difappointed, and being on the
frontier, and in dangerous times, when feveral armies were
in the field, I thought it better to fteer any courfe eaft-
ward, and avoid the theatre of war.

Journeyine ealt, I.came to Spaitlat, and again got into
the kingdom of Tunis. Spaitla is a corruption of Sufferula |},
which was probably its ancient name before it became a
Roman colony; fo called from Suffetes, a magiftrature if
all the countries dependent upon Carthage. Spaitla has ma-
ny infcriptions,-and very extenfive and elegant remains.

There are three temples, two-of them Corinthian, and one of
the

® Shaw's Travels, cap. v. p. 119. /
“t Sal. Hcl. Jug. § 94. Ly Flor. lib. iii. cap. 1. { Shaw’s Travels, chap. v. p. 118.
|| Itin. Anton. ps 3.

INTRODUCTION. - Xxxi

tlie Compofite order; a great part of them isentire. A beautiful
and perfect capital of the Compofite order, the only perfect
one that now exifts, is defigned, in all its parts, in a very
large fize ; and, with the detail of the reft of the ruin, is a
precious monument of.what that order was, now in the col-
lection of the King. .

Docror Suaw, ftruck with the magnificence of Spaitla,-
has attempted fomething like the three'temples, in a ftile’
much like what-one would expec from an ordinary -carpen-
ter, or mafon. I hope I have done them more juftice, and-
f.recommend the ftudy of the Compofite capital, as of the’
Corinthian capital at Dugga, to thofe who really wifh to
know the tafte with which thefe two-orders were executed
in the time of the Antonines... |

Tue Welled Omran, a lawlefs, plundering tribe, inquieted ”
me much in the eight days. I ftaid at Spaitla. . It was.a fair ~
match between coward and coward. With my company, I
was inclofed in a {quare in which the three temples ftood,.
where there yet remained a precinct of high walls. Thefe~
plunderers would have come in tome, but were afraid of:
my fire-arms; and I would have run away from them, had”
I not been afraid of meeting their horfe in the plain. I was -
almott ftarved to death, when I was relieved by the arrival .
of Welled Hafian, and a friendly tribe of Dreeda, that came
to my affiftance, and brought me, at once, both fafety and”
provifion. -

From. Spaitla I went to Gilma, or Oppidum’ Chilma-.
nenfe.’ There is here a large extent of rubbifh and ftones,.
but no diftinét trace of any building whatever.

| 4 3 EROM:

Xxxii INTRODUCTION.

From Gilma I paffed to Muchtar, corruptly now fo call-
ed. Its ancient name is Tucca Terebinthina*. Dr Shaw +
fays its modern name is Sbeeba, but no fuch name is known
here. I might have paffed more directly from Spaitla fouth-
ward, but a large chain of mountains, to whofe inhabitants
I had no recommendation, made me prefer the fafer and
plainer road by Gilma. At Tucca Terebinthina are two tri-
umphal arches, the largeft of which I fuppofe equal in tafte,
execution, and mafs, to any thing now exifting in the world.
The leffer is more fimple, but very elegant. They are both,

with all the particulars of their parts, not yet engraved, but.

ftill in my collection,

From Muchtar, or Tucca Terebinthina, we came to Kiffert,
which Dr Shaw conjectures to have been the Colonia Affuras
of the ancients, by this it fhould feem he had not been
there; for there is an infcription upon a triumphal arch
of very good tafte, now ftanding, and many others to be

met with up and down, which confirms beyond doubt his_

conjecture to bea juft one. ‘There is, befides this, a fmall
fquare temple, upon which are carved feveral inftruments
of facrifice, which are very curious, but the execution of
thefe is much inferior to the defign. It ftands on the de-

clivity of a hill, above a large fertile plain, ftill called the

Plain of Surfe, which is probably a corruption of its ancient
name. Affuras,

From Kiffer I came to Mufti, where there is a trium-
phal arch of very good ‘tafte, but perfectly in ruins; the

I " " merit

* Itin. Anton. p. 3. + Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 115.
Cel. Geog. Antique, lib. iy. cap. 4. and cap. 5. ps 1186

a

INTRODUCTION. / XXXil

merit of its feveral parts only could be collected from the
fragments which lie ftrewed upon the ground. 7

From Mufti * I proceeded north-eattward to Tuberfoke,
‘thence again to Dugga, and down the Bagrada to Tu-
nis. 7

My third, or, which may be called my middle journey
through Tunis, was by Zowan, a high mountain, where is
a large aqueduct which formerly carried its water to Car-
thage. Thence I came to Jelloula, a village lying below
high mountains on the weft; thefe are the Montes Vaflaleti
of Ptolemy {, as the town itfelf is the Oppidum Ufalitanum
of Pliny. I fell here again into the ancient road at Gilma;
and, not fatisfied with what I had feen of the beauties of
Spaitla, I paffed there five days. more, correcting and revi-
fing what I had already committed to paper. Independent
of the treafure I found in the elegance of its buildings, the
town itfelf is fituated in the moft beautiful {pot in Barbary,
furrounded thick with juniper-trees, and watered by a plea-
fant ftream that finks there under the earth, and appears
no more. i

Here I left my former road at Caffareen, and proceeding
directly S. E. came to Feriana, the road that I had abandon-
ed before from prudential motives. Feriana,as has been
before obferved, is the ancient Thala, taken and deftroyed -
by Metellus in his purfuit of Jugurtha. I had formed, I
know not from what reafon, fanguine expediations of ele-

Vou. I. E gant

* Itin. Anton. p. 2. t Ptol. Geog. lib. iy. p. 110,

EXX1V INTRODUCTION.

gant remains here, but in this I was difappointed; I found
nothing remarkable but the baths of very warm water*
without the town ; in thefe there was a number of fifth,
above four inches in length, not unlike gudgeons. Upon
trying the heat by the thermometer, I remember to have
been much furprifed that they could have exifted, or even not
been boiled, by continuing long in the heat of this medium.
As.I marked the degrees with a pencil whileI was myfelf
naked in the water, the leaf was wetted accidentally, fo that I
miffed the precife degree I meant to have recorded, and do
not pretend'to.fupply it from memory. The bath is at the
head of the fountain, and the ftream runs off to a confider-
able diftlance. I think there were about five or fix dozen of ©
thefe fifh in the pool. I was told likewife, that they went
down into the ftream to a certain diftance in the day, and
returned: to. the pool, or warmeft and deepeft water, at
night.

From Feriana I proceeded S. E.to Gafsa, the ancient Capfaf;
and thence to Tozer, formerly Tifurus ||. I then turned
nearly N. E. and-entered. a large lake of water called the ©
Lake of Marks, becaufe in the paflage of it there is a row
of large trunks of palm-trees fet up to guide travellers in
the road which crofles it. Doctor Shaw has fettled very
diftinctly the geography of this place, and thofe about
it. It isthe Palus Tritonidis }, as he juftly obferves ; this
was the moft barren and unpleafant part of my journey

in

* This fountain is called El Tarmid. Nub. Geog. p. 86.
+ Sal. Bell. § 94. 4 Itin. Anton, p. 4. + Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 326

INTRODUCTION. XXX¥

in Africa; barren not only from the nature of its foil, but
by its having no remains of antiquity in the whole courfe
of it. ; |

From this I came'to Gabs, or Tacape®*, after pafling El
' Hammah, the baths which were the Aquas Tacapitanas of ~
antiquity, where the {mall river Triton, by the moifture
which it furnifhes, moft agreeably and fuddenly changes
the defert fcene, and covers the adjacent fields with all
kinds of flowers and verdure.

I was now arrived upon the leffer Syrtis, and continued
along the fea-coaft northward to Infhilla, without having
made any addition to my obfervations. I turned again to
’ the N. W. and came to El Gemme }, where there is a very
large and fpacious amphitheatre, perfect as to the defola-
tion of time, had not Mahomet Bey blown up four arches
-of it from the foundation, that it might not ferve as a for-
trefs to the rebel Arabs. The fections, elevations, and plans,
with the whole detail of its parts, are in the King’s collec-
tion. 2

T nave ftill remaining, but not finifhed, the lower or fub-
terraneous plan of the building, an entrance to which I
forced open in my journey along the coaft to Tripoli. This
was made fo as to be filled with water by means of a fluice
and aqueduét, which are ftill entire. The water rofe up in
the arena, through a large fquare-hole faced with hewn-
ftone in the middle, when there was occafion for water-
games or naumachia. Doctor Shaw +} imagines this was

E2 intended

* Jtin. Anton. p. 4. § Id. Ibid. + Shaw’s Travels, p- 117. Cape 5»

XXXVI INTRODUCTION.

intended to contain the pillar that fupported the velum,
which covered the fpectators from the influence of the fun.
It might have ferved for both purpofes, but it feems to be
too large for the latter, though I confefs the more I have
-confidered the fize and conftruction of thefe amphitheatres,
the lefs I have been able to form an idea concerning this
velum, or the manner in which it ferved the people, how it
was fecured, and how it was removed. This was the laft
ancient building I vifited in the kingdom of Tunis, and I
believe I may confidently fay, there is not, either in the ter-
ritories of Algiers or Tunis, a fragment of good tafte of
which I have not brought a drawing to Britain.

I continuep along the coaft to Sufa, through a fine coun-
try planted with olive-trees, and came again to Tunis, not
only without difagreeable accident, but without any inter-
ruption from ficknefs or other caufe. Ithen took leave of
the Bey, and, with the acknowledgments ufual on fuch
occafions, again fet out from Tunis, on a very ferious
journey indeed, over the defert to Tripoli, the firft part of
which to Gabs was the fame road by which I had fo
lately returned. From Gabs | proceeded to the ifland of-
Gerba, the Meninx * Infula, or ifland of the Lotophagi.

Doctor Suaw fays, the fruit he calls the Lotus is very
frequent all over that coaft. I wifh he had faid what was
this Lotus. To fay it is the fruit the moft common on that

-coaft is no defcription, for there is there no fort of fruit
whatever ;

* Boch, Chan. lib. i, cap.25. Shaw’s Travels, cap. iy.-p. 114.-

INTRODUCTION, XXXV1i

whatever; no bufh, no tree, nor- verdure of any kind, ex-
-cepting the fhort grafs that borders thefe countries before
you enter the moving fands of the defert. Doctor Shaw
never was at Gerba, and has taken this particular from
fome unfaithful ftory-teller. The Wargumma and Noile,
two great tribes of Arabs, are mafters of thefe deferts. Sidi
‘Ifmain, whofe grandfather, the Bey of Tunis, had been de-
throned and ftrangled by the Algerines, and who was him-
felf then prifoner at Algiers, in great repute for valour, and
in great intimacy with me, did often ufe to fay, that he ac-
counted his having paffed that defert on horfeback as the
hardieft of all his undertakings. i

Azsout four days journey from Tripoli I met the Emir
Hadje conducting the caravan of pilgrims from Fez and
Sus in Morocco, all acrofs Africa to Mecca, that is, from the
Weftern Ocean, to the weftern banks of the Red Sea in the
kingdom of Sennaar. He was a middle-aged man, uncle
to the prefent emperor, of a very uncomely, ftupid kind of
countenance. His caravan confifted of about 3000 men,.
and, as his people faid, from 12,000 to 14,000 camels, part
loaded with merchandife, part with fkins of water, flour,
and other kinds of food, for the maintenance of the hadjees;.
they were a fcurvy, diforderly, unarmed pack, and when my
horfemen, tho’ but fifteen in number, came up with them
in the grey of the morning, they fhewed great figns of tre-
pidation, and were already flying in confufion. When
informed who they were, their fears ceafed, and, after
the ufual manner of cowards, they became extremely info-

lent. |
At

3

xxviii INTRODUCTION.

, Ar Tripolilmet the Hon. Mr Frazer of Lovat, his Majefty’s -
onful in that ftation, from whom I received every fort of

kindnefs, comfort, and affiftance, which I very much need-

ed after fo rude a journey, made with. fuch diligence that.
two of my horfes died fome, days after.

I uap hopes of finding fomething at Lebeda, formerly _ . rs
‘Leptis Magna *, three days journey from Tripoli, where are
indeed a great number of buildings, many of which are
covered by the fands; but they are of a bad tafte, moftly
ill-proportioned Dorics of the time of Aurelian. Seven
large columns of granite were {hipped from this for France,
in the reign of Louis XIV. deftined for one of the palaces
he was.then building. The eighth was broken on the way,
and lies now upon the fhore. Though I was difappointed
at Lebeda, ample amends were made me at Tripoli on my
return.

fra

From Tripoli I-fent an Fnglifh fervant to Smyrna with
‘my books, drawings, and fupernumerary inftruments, re-
taining only extracts from fuch authors as might:be necef-
fary for.me in the Pentapolis, or other parts of the Cyrenai-
cum. I then croffed the Gulf of Sidra, formerly known
by the name of the Syrtis Major, and arrived at Bengazi, the -
ancient-Berenice §, built by Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Tue brother of the Bey of Tripoli commanded here, a
young man, as weak in underflanding as he was in health.
2 All

* Jtin. Anton. p. 404. § Prol. Geog. p. 4.

INTRODUCTION. xxxie

All the province was in extreme confufion: Two tribes of:
Arabs, occupying the territory to the weft of the town, who’
in ordinary years, and in time of peace, were the fources of
its wealth and plenty, had, by the mifmanagement of the
Bey, entered into deadly quarrel. The tribe that lived moft
to the weftward; and which was reputed the weakeft, Had
beat the moft numerous that was neareft. the town, called:
Welled‘Abid, and driven: them within. its walls. The in-
habitants of Bengazi had for a year: before been la-
bouring under a fevere famine, and: by. this accident a-
bout four theufand perfons, of all ages and: fexes, were
forced in upon them, when perfectly. deflitute of eve-
ry neceflary.. Ten or twelve people were found dead
every night in the ftreets; and life was faid in many to be
fupported by food that human nature fhudders at the
thoughts of. Impatient to fly from thefe Thyeftean feafts,.
I prevailed upon the Bey to fend me out fome diftance to:
the fouthward, among the Arabs where famine. had been:
lefs felt..

I: ENCOMPASSED a*great- part of the Pentapolis, vifited the
ruins of Arfinoe, and,though Iwas much-more feebly recom-
mended than ufual, I happily received neitherinfult norin-
jary. Finding nothing at Arfinoe nor Barca, I continued:
my’ journey to Ras. Sem; the petrified city, concerning.
which: fo many monftrous lies. were told by the ‘Tripoline
ambaflador, Caflem Aga, at the beginning of this century,
and all believed in England, though they carried falfehood
upon the very face of them*. It was not then the age of

“increduliry

Se ee a SE ete te scab call ES ne le DO ae RR PANN SA edt ed

* Shaw’s Travels, fect. vi. p. 1 56.

xl INTRODUCTION.

incredulity, we were faft advancing to the celebrated epoch
of the man in the pint- -bottle, and from that time to be as
abfurdly incredulous as we were then the reverfe, and with
the fame degree of reafon.

Ras Sem is five long days journey fouth from Bengazi; it
has no water, except a {pring very difagreeable to the tafte,
that appears to be impregnated with alum, and this has
given it the name it bears of Ras Sem, or the Fountain of
Poifon, from its bitternefs. ‘The whole remains here con-
fift in the ruins of a tower or fortification, that feems to be
a work full as late as the time of the Vandals. How or
what ufe they made of this water I cannot poffibly guefs ;
they had no other at the diftance of two days journey. I
was not fortunate enough to difcover the petrified men and
horfes, the women at the churn, the little children, the cats,
the dogs, and the mice, which his Barbarian excellency af-
fured Sir Hans Sloane exifted there: Yet, in vindication of
his Excellency, I mutt fay, that though he propagated, yet he
did not invent this falfehood ; the Arabs who conducted me
maintained the fame ftories to be true, till I was within two
hours of the place, where I found them to be falfe. I
faw indeed mice *, as they are called, of a very extraordi-
nary kind, having nothing of petrifaction about them,
but agile and active, fo to partake as much of the bird as
the beaft.

- Approacninc now the fea-coaft I came to Ptolometa, the -
ancient Prolemais {, the work of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the
walls

* Jerboa, fee a figure of it in the Appendix. ia: $ Itin, Anton. p. 4.

>

INTRODUCTION. xi

walls and gates of which city are ftill entire. There is a
prodigious number of Greek infcriptions, but there remain
only a few columns of the portico,and an Ionic temple, in
the firft manner of executing that order; and therefore,
flight as the remains are, they are treafures in the hiftory
of architecture which are worthy to be preferved. Thefe
are in the King’s collection, with all the parts that could be
recovered. ;

Herel met a {mall Greek junk belonging to Lampedo-
fa, a little iland near Crete, which had been unloading
corn, and was now ready to fail. At the fame time the
Arabs of Ptolometa told me, that the Welled Ali, a powerful
tribe that occupy the whole country between that place
and Alexandria, were at war among themfelves, and had
plundered the caravan of Morocco, of which I have already
{fpoken, and that the pilgrims compofing it had moftly pe-
rifhed, having been fcattered in the defert without water ;
that a great famine had been at Derna, the neighbouring
town, to which I intended to go; that a plague had follows
ed, and the town, which is divided into upper and lower,
was engaged in acivil war. This torrent of ill news was
irrefiftible, and was of a kind I did not propofe to wrefile
with ; befides, there was nothing, as far as I knew, that me-
rited the rifk. I refolved, therefore, to fly from this inhof-
pitable coaft, and fave to the public, at leaft, that knowledge
and entertainment [{ had acquired for them.

I emBARKED On board the Greek veffel, very ill accoutred,
as we afterwards found, and, though it had plenty of fail,
it had not an ounce of ballaft. A number of people, men,
women, and children, fying from the calamities which at-

Vor, I. F tend

xlii INTRODUCTION.

tend famine, crowded in unknown to me; but the paflage
was fhort, the veffel light, and the mafter, as we fuppofed,
well accuftomed to thefe feas. The contrary of this, how-
ever, was the truth, as we learned afterwards, when too

late, for he was an abfolute landfman; proprietor indeed’

of the veffel, but this had been his firft voyage. We failed at
dawn of day in as favourable and pleafant weather as ever
I faw at fea. It was the beginning of September, and a

light and fteady breeze, though not properly fair, promifed |

a fhort and agreeable voyage; but it was not long before
it turned frefh and cold; we then had a violent fhower of
hail, and the clouds were gathering as if for thunder. If
obferved that we gained no offing, and hoped, if the wea-
ther turned bad, to perfuade the Captain to put into Benga-
zi, for one inconvenience he prefently difcovered, that they
had not provifion on board for one day.

However, the wind became contrary, and blew a violent
ftorm, feeming to menace both thunder andrain. The vef-
fel being in her trim with large latine fails, fell violently to
leeward, and they fcarce would have weathered the Cape

that makes the entrance into the harbour of Bengazi, which -

is a very bad one, when all at once it ftruck upon a funken
rock, and feemedto be fet down upon it. The wind at that
inftant feemed providentially to ealm; but.I no fooner ob-
ferved the fhip had ftruck than I began to think of my own
fituation. We were not far from fhore, but there was an
exceeding great {well at fea. Two boats wererftill towed
aftern of them, and had not been hoifted in. Roger M‘€or-
mack, my Irifh fervant, had been a failor on board the Mo-
narch before he deferted to the Spanifh fervice. He and
the other, who had likewife been a failor, prefently unlafh-

-ed

INTRODUCTION, xl

ed the largeft boat, and all three got down into her, follow-
ed by a multitude of people whom we could not hinder,
and there was, indeed, fomething that bordered on cruelty,
in preventing poor people from ufing the fame means that
we had done for preferving their lives; yet, unlefs we had
killed them, the prevention was impoffible, and, had we
been inclined to that meafure, we dared not, as we were
upon a Moorifh coaft. The moft that could be done was,
te get loofe from the fhip as foon as poffible, and two oars
were prepared to row the boat afhore. I had ftript myfelf
to a fhort under-waiftcoat and linen drawers; a filk fafh,
or girdle, was wrapt round me; a pencil, {mall pocket-book,
and watch, were in the breaft-pocket of my waiftcoat; two
Moorifh and two Englith fervants followed me; the reft,
more wife, remained on board.

We were not twice the length of the boat from the vef-
fel before a wave very nearly filled the boat. A howl of
defpair from thofe that were in her fhewed their helplefs
ftate, and that they were confcious of a danger they could
not fhun. I faw the fate of all was to be decided by the
very next wave that was rolling in; and apprehenfive that
fome woman, child, or helplefs man would lay hold of me,
and entangle my arms or legs and weigh me down, I cried
to my fervants, both in Arabic and Englifh, We are all loft;
if you can {wim, follow me; I then let myfelf down in
the face of the wave. Whether that, or the next, filled the
boat, I know not, as I went to leeward to make my diftance
as great as poilible. I was a good, ftrong, and practifed fwim-
mer, in the flower of life, full of health, trained to “xercife
and fatigue of every kind. All this, however, which’might

F 2 have

xliv INTRODUCTION.

have availed much in deep water, was not fufficient when

I came to the furf. I received a violent blow upon my —

breaft from the eddy wave and reflux, which feemed as
given me by a large branch of a tree, thick cord, or fome
elaftic weapon. It threw me upon my back, made me {wal-
low a confiderable quantity of water, and had then almoft
fuffocated me.

T avorpep the next wave, by dipping my head and letting
it pafs over, but found myfelf breathlefs, exceedingly
weary and exhaufted. The land, however, was before me,.
and clofe athand. A large wave floated me up. I had the
profpect of efcape ftill nearer, and endeavoured to prevent
myfelf from going back into the furf. My heart was ftrong,

but flrength was apparently failing, by being involuntarily.

twifted about, and ftruck on the face and breaft by the vio-.
lence of the ebbing wave ; it now feemed as if nothing re«
mained but to give up the ftruggle, and refign to my def-
tiny. Before Idid this I funk to found if I could touch the
ground, and found that I reached the fand with my feet,
though the water was ftill rather deeper than my mouth.
The fuccefs of this experiment infufed into me the ftrength

of.ten men, and I ftrove manfully, taking advantage of

floating only with the influx of the wave, and preferving my
ftrength for the ftruggle againft the ebb, which, by finking
and touching the ground, I now made more eafy. At laft,
finding my hands and knees upon the fands, I fixed my-
nails into it, and obftinately refitted being carried back at
all, crawling afew feet when the fea had retired. I had
perfeccly loft my recollection and underftanding, and after
-greeping fo far as to be out of the reach of the fea, I fup-

pote:

INTRODUCTION. xlv

pofe I fainted, for from that time I was totally infenfible of
any thing that paffed around me.

In the mean time the Arabs, who live two:fhort miles:
from the fhore, came down in crowds to plunder the veffel.
One of the boats was thrown afhore, and they had belonging,
to them fome others ; there was one yet with the wreck,
which fcarcely appeared with its gunnel above water. All
the people were now taken on fhore, and thofe only loft
who perifhed in the boat. What firft wakened me from
this femblance of death was a blow with the butt-end of a:
lance, fhod with iron, upon the junéture of the neck with
the back-bone. This produced a violent fenfation of pain 3.
but it was a mere-accident the blow was not with the point,
for the {mall, fhort waiftcoat, which had been made at Al-
giers, the fafh and drawers, all in the Turkifh fafhion, made
the Arabs believe that I was a Turk ; and after many blows,,
kicks, and curfes, they ftript me of the little cloathing I had,
and left me naked. They ufed the reft in the fame manner,,
then went to their boats to.look for. the bodies of thofe that
were drowned.. Pe

Arter thie difcipline Had received, I had: walked, or
crawled up among fome white, fandy hillocks, where [| fat
down and concealed myfelf as muchas poflible.. The wea-
ther was then warm, but the evening promifed to be cooler,.
and it was faft drawing.on;,there was great danger to be ap-
prehended if I approached the tents where the women were:
while I was naked, for in this cafe it was very probable f.
would receive another baftinado fomething worfe than the
firft. Still I was fo confufed that J had nor recollected I
could {peak to them in their own language, and it now on--

ly

xlvi INTRODUCTION.

ly came into my mind, that by the gibberifh, in imi-
tation of Turkifh, which the Arab had uttered to me
while he was beating and ftripping me, he took me for
a Turk, and to this in all probability the ill-ufage was
owing.

Aw old man and a number of young Arabs came up to
me where | was fitting. I gave them the falute Salam Ali-
cum! which was only returned by one young man, in a
tone as if he wondered at my impudence. The old man
then afked me, Whether I was a Turk, and what I had to
do there? I replied, I was no Turk, but a poor Chriftian phy-
fician, a Dervifh that went about the world feeking to do
good for God’s fake, was then flying from famine, and going
to Greece to get bread. He then afked me if I was a Cre-
tan? I faid, I had never been in Crete, but came from Tu-
nis, and was returning to that town, having loft every thing
I had in the fhipwreck of that veffel. Ifaid this in fo def-
pairing atone, that there was no doubt left with the Arab
that the fact was true. A ragged, dirty baracan was imme-
diately thrown over me, and I was ordered up to a tent, in
the end of which ftood a long eae thruft through it, a
mark of fovereignty.

I ruERe faw the Shekh of the tribe, who being in peace
with the Bey of Bengazi, and alfo with the Shekh of Ptolo-
meta, after many queftions ordered me a plentiful fupper,
of which all my fervants partook, none of them having pe-
rifhed. A multitude of confultations followed on their com-
plaints, of which I freed myfelf in the beft manner ] could,
alledging the lofs of all my medicines, in order to induce

fome of them to feek for the fextant at leaft, but all to no
1 purpofe,

INTRODUCTION. xIvil

purpofe, fo that, after flaying two days among them, the
Shekh reftored to us all that had been taken from us, and
mounting us upon camels, and giving us a conductor, he
forwarded us to Bengazi, where we arrived the fecond day
in the evening. Thence I fent a compliment to the Shekh,
and with it a man from the Bey, intreating that he would
ufe all poffible means to fifh up fome of my cafes, for
which I affured him he fhould not mifs a handfome re-
ward. Promifes and thanks were returned, but I never
heard further of my inftruments; all I recovered was a
filver watch of Fllicot, the work of which had been taken
out and broken,fome pencils, and a {mall port-folio, inwhich
were fketches of Ptolemeta; my pocket-book too was found,
but my pencil was loft, being in a common filver cafe, and
with them all the aftronomical obfervations which I had
made in Barbary. I there loft a fextant, a parallactic in-
ftrument, a time-piece, a reflecting telefcope, an achromatic
one, with many drawings, a copy of M. de la Caille’s ephe-
merides down to the year 1775, much to be regretted, as be-
ing fuil of manufcript marginal notes ; a {mall camera ob-
fcura, fome guns, piftols, a blunderbufs, and feveral other
articles.

I FounD at Bengazi a {mall French floop, the mafter of
which had been often at Algiers when I was conful there.
{ had even, as the mafter remembered, done him fome lit-
tle fervice, for which, contrary to the cuftom of that fort of
people, he was very grateful. He had come there laden
with corn, and was going up the Archipelago, or towards
the Morea, for more. The cargo he had brought was buta
mite compared to the neceflities of the place; it only re-

lieved

xiv INTRODUCTION.

lieved the foldiers for a time, and many people of all ages.
and fexes were ftill dying every day.

Tue harbour of Bengazi is full of fifth, and my company

caught a great quantity with a {mall net; we likewife pro-

cured a multitude with the line, enough to have maintain-
ed a larger number of perfons than the family confifted of ;

we got vinegar, pepper, and fome {tore of onions ; we had.

little bread itis true, but ftill our induftry kept us very far
from flarving. We endeavoured to inftruct thefe wretches,
gave them pack-thread, and fome coarfe hooks, by which
they might have fubfifted with the fmalleft attention and
trouble ; but they would rather ftarve in multitudes, ftriving
to pick up fingle grains of corn, that were {cattered upon the
beach by the burfting of the facks, or the inattention of the
mariners, than take the pains to watch one hour at the flow-
ing of the tide for excellent fifh, where, after taking one,
they were fure of being mafters of multitudes till it was
high water.

Tue Captain of the fmall veffel loft no time. He had

done his bufinefs well, and though he was returning for.

another cargo, yet he offered me what part of his funds I
fhould need with great franknefs, We now failed with a
fair wind, and in four or five days eafy weather landed at
Canea, a confiderable fortified place at the weft end of the
ifland of Crete. Here I was taken dangeroufly ill, occafion-
ed by the bathing and extraordinary exertions in the fea
of Prolometa, nor was J in the leaft the better from the beat-
ing I had received, figns of which I bore very long after-
wards.

4, i
_ From

INTRODUCTION. ©... xlix

From Canea I failed for Rhodes, and there met my books ;
I then proceeded to Caftelroffo, on the coaft of Caramania,
and was there credibly informed that there were very mag-
nificent remains of ancient buildings a fhort way from the
fhore, on the oppofite continent. Caramania is a part of
Afia Minor yet unexplored. But my illnefs increafing, it
was impoflible to execute, or take any meafures to fecure
protection, or do the bufinefs fafely, and I was forced to
relinguitn this difcovery to {ome more fortunate traveller.

Mr Pzyssonet, French conful at Smyrna, a man not more
diftinguifhed for his amiable manners than for his polite
tafte in literature, of which he has given {feveral elegant
fpecimens, furnifhed me with letters for that part of Gara-
mania, or Afia Minor, and there is no doubt but they would
have been very efficacious. What increafed the obligation
for this kind attention fhewn, was, that I had never feen
Mr Peyffonel ; and I am truly mortified, that, fince my arri-
val in England, | have had no opportunity to return my
grateful thanks for this kindnefs, which I therefore beg
that he will now accept, together with a copy of thefe tra-
vels, which I have oe my French book{eller to forward
to him. ,

From Caftelroffo I continued, without any thing remark-
able, till I came to Cyprus; I ftaid there but half a day, and
arrived at Sidon, where I was moft kindly received by Mr
Clerambaut, brother-in-law to Mr Peyffonel, and French |
conful at this place; a man in politenefs, humanity, and —
every focial quality of the mind, inferior to none I have ever
known. With him, and a very flourifhing, well-informed,
and induftrious nation, I continued for fome time, then

Vou. I, Go: in

] INTRODUCTION.

in a weak ftate of health, but ftill making partial excur- .
fions from time to time into the continent of Syria, through
Libanus, and Anti Libanus; but as I made thefe without |
inftruments, and paffed pretty much in the way of the tra-
vellers who have defcribed thefe countries before, I leave the
hiftory to thofe gentlemen, without fwelling, by entering
into particular narratives, this Introduction, already ‘too
long.

Wuite at CanealI wrote by way of France, and again
while at Rhodes by way of Smyrna, to particular friends
both in London and Franee, informing them of my difaftrous
fituation, and defiring them to fend me a moveable qua-
drant or fextant, as near as poffible to two feet radius, more
or lefs, a time-keeper, flop-watch, a reflecting telefcope, and
one of Dolland’s achromatic ones, as near as poflible to
three-feet reflectors, with feveral other articles which I then.
wanted.

I recervep from Paris and London much about the fame
time, and as if .it had been dictated by the fame perfon,
nearly the fame anfwer, which was this, That everybody
was employed in making inftruments for Danifh, Swedith,
and: other foreign aftronomers ; that all thofe which were
completed had been bought up, and without waiting a
confiderable, indefinite time, not! ung couldbe hadthat could
be depended upon. At the fame time I was told, to my
ereat mortification, that no accounts ot me had arrived from
Africa, unlefs from feveral idle letters, which had been in-
- duftrioufly wrote by a gentleman whofe name | .abftain
from mentioning, firft, becaufe he is dead, and next, out of.
refpect to his truly great and worthy relations..
3s In.

-

INTRODUCTION. li

_ In thefe letters it was announced, that I was gone with
a Ruffian caravan through the Curdiftan, where I was to
obferve the tranfit of Venus in a place where it was not vi-
fible, and that I was to proceed to China, and return by the

- way of the Eaft Indies :—a ftory which fome of his correfpon-

dents, as profligate as himfelf, induftrioufly circulated at
the time, and which others, perhaps weaker than wicked,
though wicked enough, have affected to believe to this

day. |

I concEivED a violent indignation at this, and finding

-myfelf fo treated in return for fo complete a journey as I

had then actually terminated, thought it below me to fa-
crifice the beft years of my life to daily pain and danger,
when the impreflion it made in the breafts of my country-
men feemed to be fo weak, fo infinitely unworthy of them
or me. One thing only detained me from returning home;
it was my defire of fulfilling my promife to my Sovereign,
and of adding the ruins of Palmyra to thofe of Africa, al-
ready fecured and out of danger.

In my anger I renounced all thoughts of the attempt to
difcover the fources of the Nile, and I repeated my orders
no more for either quadrant, telefcope, or time-keeper. _ I
had pencils and paper; and luckily my large camera obfcu-
ra, which had efcaped the cataftrophe of Prolometa, was ar-
rived from Smyrna, and then ftanding before me. I there-
fore began to caft about, with my ufual care and anxiety, —

_ for the means of obtaining feafible and fafe methods of re-

peating the famous journey to Palmyra. I found it was
neceflary to advance nearer the fcene of action. Mr Abbot,
Britith conful for Tripoli in Syria, kindly invited me, and

G2 after

et

hi INTRODUCTION.

after him Mr Vernon, his fucceffor, a very excellent man,
to take up my refidence there. From Tripoli there is a
trade in kelp carried on to the falt marfhes near Palmyra.
The Shekh of Cariateen, a town juft upon the edge of the
defert, had a contract with the bafha of Tripoli for a quan-
tity of this herb for the ufe of the foap-works. I loft no
time in making a friendfhip with this man, but his return

_ amounted to no more than to endeavour to lead me rafhly

into real danger, where he knew he had not confequence
enough to give me a moment’s protection.

THERE are two tribes almoft equally powerful who inha-
bit the deferts round Palmyra; the one is the Annecy, re-
markable for the fineft breed of horfes in the world ; the
other is the Mowalli, much better foldiers, but fewer in
number, and very httle inferior in the excellence of their
horfes. The Annecy poffefs the country towards the S. W.

at the back of Libanus, about Bozra down the Hawran, and.

fouthward towards the borders of Arabia Petrea and Mount
Horeb. The Mowalli inhabit the plains eaft of Damafcus
to the Euphrates, and north to near Aleppo..

THESE two tribes were not at war, nor were they at peace ;.

they were upon what is called ill-terms. with each other,
which is the moft dangerous time for ftrangers to have any
dealings with either. I learned ‘this as a certainty from a
friend at Hailia, where a Shekh lives, to whom I was re-
commended by a letter, as a friend of the bafha of Damaf-
cus. This man maintains his influence, not by a number
of forces, but by conftantly marrying a relation of one or
both of thefe tribes of Arabs, who for that reafon afiift him
in maintaining the fecurity of his road, and he has the care

3 of.

INTRODUCTION. hi

of that part of it by which the couriers pafs from Conftan-
tinople into Egypt, belonging to both thefe tribes, who
were then at a diftance from each other, and roved in flying
fquadrons all round Palmyra, by way of maintaining their
right of pafture in places that neither of them chofe at that
time to occupy. Thefe, I fuppofe, are what the Englith
writers call Wild Arabs, for otherwife, though they are all
wild enough, | do not know one wilder than another. This
is very certain, thefe young men, compofing the flying par-.
ties I {peak of, are truly wild while at a diftance from their
campand government; andtheftranger that fallsinunawares ~
- with them, and efcapes with his life, may fet himfelf down.
as a fortunate traveller.

_ Returnine from Haffia I would have gone fouthward to
Baalbec, but it was then befieged by Emir Youfef prince of
the Drufes, a Pagan nation, living upon mount Libanus.
Upon that I returned to Tripoli, in Syria, and after fome time
fet out for Aleppo, travelling northward along the plain of.
Jeune betwixt mount Lebanon and the fea. r |

I visireD the ancient. Byblus, and bathed with pleafure
-in the river Adonis. All here is claffic ground. I faw feve-
ral confiderable ruins of Grecian architecture all very much
defaced. Thefe are already publifhed by Mr Drummond,
and therefore I left them, being never defirous of interfer
ing with the works. of others.

I passep Latikea, formerly Laodicea ad Mare, and then
came to Antioch, and afterwards to Aleppo. The fever and.
ague, which I had firft caught in my cold bath at Bengazi,
had returned upon me with great violence, after pafling

one:

Liv _ INTRODUCTION.

one night encamped in the mulberry gardens behind Si-
don. It had. returned in very flight paroxyfms feveral
times, but laid hold of me with more than ordinary violence
on my arrival at Aleppo, where I came juft in time to the
houfe of Mr Belville, a French merchant, to whom I was
addreffed for my credit. Never was a more lucky addrefs,
never was there a foul fo congenial to my own as was that
of Mr Belville: to fay more after this would be praifing my-

felf. To him was immediately added Doctor Patrick Ruflel,
_ phyfician to the Britith factory there. Without the atten-
tion and friendfhip of the one, and the {kill and anxiety of
the other of thefe gentlemen, it is probable my travels
would have ended at Aleppo. I recovered flowly. By the
report of thefe two gentlemen, though I had yet feen no-
body, I became a public care, nor did I ever pafs more agree-
able hours than with Mr Thomas the French conful, his fa-
mily, and the merchants eftablifhed there. From Doctor Ruf
fell was fupplied with what I wanted, fome books, and
much inftruétion. Noboby knew the difeafes of the Eaft
fo well; and perhaps my efcaping the fever at Aleppo
was not the only time in which | owed him my life.

BEeinc now reftored to health, my firft object was the
journey to Palmyra. The Mowalli were encamped at no
great diftance from Aleppo. It was without difficulty I'found
a fure way to explain my withes, and to fecure the affiftance
of Mahomet Kerfan, the Shekh, but from him I learned, in
a manner that I could not doubt, that the way I intended
to go down to Palmyra from the north was tedious, trouble-
fome, uncertain, and expenfive, and that he did not wifh me
to undertake it at that time. It is quite fuperfluous in thefe

| cafes

<p oe

INTRODUCTION. Iv

cafes to prefs for particular information; an Arab conduc¢tor,.
who proceeds with caution, furely means you well. He
told me that he would leave a friend in the houfe of a cer-
tain Arab at Hamath*, about half-way to Palmyra, and if
in fomething more than a month | came there, and found
that Arab, I might rely upon him without fear, and he
would conduct me in fafety to Palmyra.

I RETURNED to Tripoli, and at the time appointed fet out
for Hamath, found my conductor, and proceeded to Hafiia, |
Coming from Aleppo, 1! had not pafled the lower way again
by Antioch.- The river which pafles through the plains.
where they cultivate their beft tobacco, is the Orontes; ic was
fo {wollen with rain; which had fallen in the mountains,
that the ford was no longer vifible Stopping at two mifer-
able huts inhabited by a bafe fet called (urcomans, I afked
the mafter of one of them to fhew me the ford, which he
very readily undertook to do, and I went, for the length of
fome yards, on rough, but very hard and folid ground. The
current before me was, however, fo violent, that | had more
than once a defire to turn back, but, not fufpecting any
thing, I continued, when on a fudden man and horfe fell.
out of their depth into the river.

I wap a rifled gun flung acrofs my fhoulder, with a buff
belt and iwivel. As long as that held, it fo embarrafled my:
hands and legs that I could not fwim, and muft have funk;
but luckily the fwivel gave way, the gun fell to the bottom
of the river, and was pickt up in dry weather by order of

the

So TEST TE Oe SEL a ea STIG PAE are
* The north boundary of the Holy Land..

Ivy ~\s INTRODUCTION.

the bafha, at the defire of the French merchants, who kept it
for a relict. J and my horfe fwam feparately afhore; at a
fmall diftance from thence was a caphar*, or turnpike, to

which, when I came to dry myfelf, the man told me, that

the place where I had croffed was the remains of a ftone
bridge now entirely carried away ; where [had firft enter-
ed was.one of the wings of the bridge, from which I had
fallen into the fpace the firft arch occupied, one of the
deepeft parts of the river; that the people who had mif-
guided me were an infamous fet of banditti, and that I
might be thankfulon many accounts that I had made fuch
an efcape from them, and was now on the oppofite fide. I

then prevailed on the caphar-man to fhew my fervants the .

right ford.

From Haflia we proceeded with our conductor to Caria-
teen, where there is an immentfe {pring of fine water, which
overflows into a large pool. Here, to our great furprife, we
found about two thoufand of the Annecy encamped, who

were quarrelling with Haffan our old friend, the kelp-mer-.

chant. This was nothing to us; the quarrel between the
Mowalli and Annecy had it feems been made up; for an

old man from each tribe on horfeback accompanied us to —

Palmyra: the tribes gave us camels for more commodious
travelling, and we pafled the defert between Cariateen and
Palmyra in a day and two nights, going conftantly without
fleeping.

Just

* Tt is a poft where a party of men are kept to receive a contribution, for maintaining the
fecurity of the roads, from all paffengers.

~~

INTRODUCTION, Ivii

Just before we came in fight of the ruins, we afcended
a hill of white gritty ftone, in a very narrow-winding road,
fuch as we call a pafs, and, when arrived at the top, there
opened before us the moft aftonifhing, ftupendous fight that
perhaps ever appeared to mortal eyes. The whole plain
below, which was very extenfive, was covered fo thick with
magnificent buildings as that the one feemed to touch the
other, all of fine proportions, all of agreeable forms, all com-
pofed of white ftones, which at that diftance appeared like
marble. At the end of it ftood the palace of the fun, a
building worthy to clofe fo magnificent a fcene.

Ir was impoflible for two perfons to think of defigning
ornaments, or taking meafures, and there feemed the lefs
occafion for this as Mr Wood had done this part already. . I
had no intention to publifh any thing concerning Palmyra ;
befides, it would have been a violation of my firft principle
not tointerfere with the labours of others; and if this was
a rule I inviolably obferved as to ftrangers, every fentiment
of reafon and gratitude obliged me to pay the fame refpect
to the labours of Mr Wood my friend.

I pivipep Palmyra into fix angular views, always bring-
ing forward to the firft ground an edifice, or principal group
of columns, that deferved it. The ftate of the buildings are
particularly favourable forthis purpofe. The columns are
al! uncovered to the very bafes, the foil upon which the
town is built being. hard and fixed ground. Thefe views
are all upon large paper; the columns in fome of them are
a foot long ; the figures in the fore-ground of the temple of
the fun are fome of them near four inches, 2
. Vout H BEFORE

Iviii INTRODUCTION.

Berore our departure from Palmyra I obferved its Iati-
tude with a Hadley’s quadrant from reflection. The in-
ftrament had probably warped in carriage, as the index
went unpleafantly, and as it were by ftarts, fo that I will not
pretend to give this for an exact obfervation ; yet, after all
the care I could take, I only apprehended that 33° 58’ for the
latitude of Palmyra, would be nearer the truth than any other,
Again, that the diftance from the coaft ina ftraight line
‘being 160 miles, and that remarkable mountainous cape on
the coaft of Syria, between Byblus and Tripoli, known by the
mame of Theoprofopon, being nearly due weft, or under the:

fame parallel with Palmyra, I conceive the longitude of

that city to be nearly 37° 9’ from the obfervatory of Green-
‘wich.

From Palmyra I proceeded to Baalbec, diftant about 130
miles, and arrived the fame day that Emir Youfef had:

reduced the town and fettled the government, and was de-

camping from it on his return home. This was the-
luckieft moment poffible for me, as I was the Emir’s friend, —

and I obtained liberty to do there what I pleafed, and to
this indulgence was added the great convenience of the

Emir’s abfence, fo that I was not troubled by the obfervance-
of any court-ceremony or attendance, or teazed with im-.

pertinent queftions.

Baatsec is pleafantly fituated in a plain on the welt of
Anti Libanus, is finely watered, and abounds in gar- |

dens. It is about fifty miles from Haflia, and about thirty.
from the neareft fea-coaft, which is the fituation of the an-

cient Byblus. The interior of the great temple of Baalbec,.

fuppofed to be that of the fun, furpafles any thing at Pal-
| - « mayra,

INTRODUCTION, lix

myra, indeed any fculpture I ever remember to have feen
in ftone. All thefe views of Palmyra and Baalbec are now
in the King’s collection, They are the moft magnificent
offering in their line that ever was made by one fubject ta
his fovereign.

Passing by Tyre, from curiofity only, I came to be a
mournful witnefs of the truth of that prophecy, That Tyre,
the queen of nations, fhould be a rock for fifhers to dry
their nets on*. Two wretched fifhermen, with miferable
nets, having juft given over their occupation with very little
fuccefs, I engaged them, at the expence of their nets, to
drag in thofe places where they faid fhell-fifh might be
caught, in hopes to have brought out one of the famous
‘purple-fifh. I did not fucceed, but in this I was, I believe, as
lucky as the old fifhers had ever been. The purple fifh at
Tyre feems to have been only a concealment of their Know-
_ ledge of cochineal, as, had they depended upon the fifh for
their dye, if the whole city of Tyre applied to nothing elfe
but fifhing, they would not have coloured twenty yards of
cloth in a year. Much fatigued, but fatisfied beyond mea-
fure with what I had feen, I arrived in perfect health, and
in the gayeft humour poffible, at the hofpitable manfion of
M. Clerambaut at Sidon.

I rounp there letters from Europe, which were in a very
different ftyle from the laft. From London, my friend Mr
Ruffel acquainted me, that he had fent me an excellent
reflecting telefcope of two feet focal length, moved by

2 rack-~

* Ezek. chap. xxvi. ver. 5.

1x INTRODUCTION.

rack-work, and the laft Mr Short ever made, which proved
a very excellent inflrument; alfo an achromatic telefcope
by Dolland, nearly equal to a three-feet reflector, with a
foot, or ftand, very artificially compofed of rulers fixed to-
gether by fcrews. I think this inflrument might be im-
proved by fhortening the three principal legs of it. . If the
legs of its fland were about fix inches fhorter, this, without
inconvenience, would take away the little fhake it has when
ufed in the outer air. Perhaps this defect is not in all te-
lefcopes of this conftruction. It is a pleafant inftrument,
and for its fize takes very little packing, and is very ma-
nageable.

THAvE brought home both thefe inftruments after per-
forming the whole journey, and they are now ftanding in
my library, in the moft perfect order ; which is rather to be
wondered at from the accounts in which moft travellers
feem to agree, that metal fpeculums, within the tropics, {pot
and ruft fo much as to be ufelefs after a few obfervations
made at or near the zenith. The fear of this, and the fra-
gility of glafs of achromatic telefcopes, were the occafion
of a confiderable expence to me; but from experience I found,
that, if a little care be taken, one reflector would be fufficient
fora very long voyage. |

From Paris I received a time-piece and a flop-watch made
by M. Lepeaute, dearer than Elhicot’s, and refembling his in
nothing elfe but the price. The clock was a very neat,
portable inftrument, made upon very ingenious, fimple prin-
ciples, buc fome of the parts were fo grofsly neglected in
the execution, and fo unequally finifhed, that it was not
difficult for the meaneft novice in the trade to point out the

caufe

INTRODUCTION. ixi

_caufe of its irregularity. It remains with me in ftatu quo.
It has been of very little ufe to me, and never will be of
much more to any perfon elfe. The price is, I am fure, ten
times more than it ought to be in any light! can confider
it.

Att thefe letters ftill left me in abfolute defpair about
obtaining aquadrant, and confequently gave me very little
fatisfaction, but in fome meafure confirmed mein my refo-
lution already taken, to go from Sidon to Egypt; as I had
then feen the greateft part of the good architecture in the
world, in all its degrees of perfection down to its decline, I
withed now only to fee it in its origin, and for this it was
neceflary to go to Egypt. _

NorpeEwn, Pococke, and many others, had given very in-
genious accounts of Egyptian architecture in general, of the
difpofition and fize of their temples, magnificence of their
materials, their hieroglyphics, and the various kinds of
them, of their gilding, of their painting, and their prefent
ftate of prefervation. I thought fomething more might be
learnt as to the firft proportions of their columns, and
the conftruction of their plans. Dendera, the ancient
Tentyra, feemed by their accounts to offer a fair field for
this.

I wap atready collected together a great many obfervations
on the progrefs of Greek and Roman architecture in differ-
ent ages, drawn not from books or connected with fyftem,
but from the models themfelves, which § myfelf had mea-
fured. I had been long of the opinion, in which Iam ftill
further confirmed, that tafle for ancient architecture, found-

ed

Jxii INTRODUCTION.

ed upon the examples that Italy alone can furnifh, was not
giving ancient architects fair play. What was to be |
learned from the firft proportions of their plans and eleva-
tions feemed to have remained untouched in Egypt; after
having confidered thefe, I propofed to live in retirement on
my native patrimony, with a fair ftock of unexceptionable
materials upon this fubjed, to ferve for a pleafant and ufe-
ful amufement in my old age. I hope ftill thefe will not be ©
loft to the public, unlefs the encouragement be in propor-
tion to what my labours have already had.

I now received, however, a letter very unexpectedly by
way of Alexandria, which, if it did not overturn, at leaft
fhook thefe refolutions. ‘The Comte de Buffon, Monf. Guys .
of Marfeilles, and feveral others well known in the literary
world, had ventured to ftate to the minifter, and through
him to the king of France, Louis XV. how very much it was
to be lamented, that after a man had been found who was
likely to fucceed in removing that opprobrium of travellers
and geographers, by difcovering the fources of the Nile, one
moft unlucky accident, at a moft unlucky time, fhould fruf-
trate the moft promifing endeavours, That prince, diftin-
guifhed for every good quality of the heart, for benevolence,
beneficence, and a defire of promoting and protecting
learning, ordered a moveable quadrant of his own military
academy at Marfeilles, as the neareft and moft convenient
port of embarkation, to be taken down and fent to me at
Alexandria,

Wir this I received a letter from Mr Ruffel, which in-
formed me that aftronomers had begun to cool in the fan-
guine expectations of difcovering the perm quantity of

4 the

INTRODUCTION. | Ixiii

. ‘the fun’s parallax by obfervation of the tranfit of Beis

from fome apprehenfion that errors of the obfervers would
probably be more than the quantity of the equation fought,
and that they now ardently wiihed for a journey into A-
‘byffinia, rather than an attempt to fettle a nicety for which:
the learned had now begun to think the accuracy of our
inftruments was not fufficient. A letter from my correfpon-
‘dent at Alexandria alfo acquainted me, that the quadrant,.
and all other inftruments, were in.that city..

Wuar followed is the voyage itfelf, the fubjec of the’
prefent publication. Iam happy, by communicating every
‘previous circumftance that occurred tome, to have doneall
im my power to remove the: greateft part of the reafonable
doubts and difficulties which might have perplexed the rea-
der’s mind, or biafled his judgment in the perufal of the:
“narrative of the journey, and in. this I hope I have fucceed--
ed.

I HAVE Now one remaining part of my promife to fulfil, .
to account for the delay in the publication. It will. not be’ ~
thought furprifing to any that fhall reflect on the diftant,.
dreary, and defert ways by which all letters were necefla-
rily to pafs, or'the civil wars then raging-in Abyflinia, the’
robberies and violences infeparableefrom a total diffolution :
of government, fuch as happened in my time, that no ac-
counts for many years, one excepted, ever arrived in Eu-
rope. One letter, accompanied by a bill fora. fum borrow-.
ed from a Greek at Gondar, found its way to Cairo; all:
the reft had mifcarried: my friends at home gave me up:
for dead ; and, as my death muft have happened in circum-

flances difficult to have been proved, my property became
; as

{xiv INTRODUCTION.

as it were an hereditas jacens, without an owner, abandoned
in common to thofe whofe original title extended no fur-
ther than temporary poffeffion,

A number of law-fuits were the inevitable confequence
of this upon my return. One carried on with a very expen-
- five obftinacy for the fpace of ten years, by a very opulent
and a¢tive company, was determined finally in the Houfe
of Peers,in the compafs of a very few hours, by the well-
known fagacity and penetration of a noble Lord, who, hap-
pily for the fubjects of both countries, holds the firft office
in the law; and fo judicious was the fentence, that har-
mony, mutual confidence, and good neighbourhood has
ever fince been the confequence of that determination,

Oruer fuits fiill remained, which unfortunately were
not arrived to the degree of maturity to be fo cut off;
they are yet depending ; patience and attention, it is hoped,
may bring them to an iffue at fome future time No impu-
tation of rafhnefs can poflibly fall upon the decree, fince
the action has depended above thirty years. ©

To thefe difagreeable avocations, which took up much
time, were added others ftill more unfortunate. The re-
len:lefs ague caught at Bengazi maintained its ground at
times for a {pace of more than fixteen years, though every
remedy had been ufed, but in vain; and, what was wort
of all, a lingering diftemper had ferioufly threatened the
life of a moft near relation, which, after nine years conftant
alarm, where every duty bound me to attention and atrend-

‘ | ance,

INTRODUCTION. Ixy

ance, conducted her at laft, in very early life, "€6 her
grave *,

Tue love of folitude is the conftant follower of affliction ;
this again naturally turns an inftructed mind to ftudy. My
friends unanimoutly affailed me in the part moft acceffible
when the fpirits are weak, which is vanity. They repre-
fented to me how ignoble it was, after all my dangers and ©
difficulties were over, to be conquered by a misfortune inci-
dent to all men, the indulging of which was unreafonable

. initfelf, fruitlefs in its confequences, and fo unlike the ex-
pectation Lhad given my country, by the firmnefs and in-

trepidity of my former character and behaviour. Among

thefe, the principal and moft urgent was a gentleman well.
known to the literary world, in which he holds arank near-

ly as diftinguifhed as that to which his virtues entitle him

in civil life; this was the Hon. Daines Barrington, whofe

friendthip, valuable on every account, had this additional

merit, that it had exifted uninterrupted fince the days we

were at {chool. It is to this gentleman’s perfuafions, affift-

ance, protection, and friendfhip, that the world owes this

publication, if indeed there is any merit in it; at leaft,

they are certainly indebted to him for the opportunity of
judging whether there is any merit in it or not.

No great time has paffed fince the work was in hand.
The materials collected upon the {pot were very full, and.
feldom deferred to be fet down beyond the day wherein
the events defcribed happened, but oftner, when {peeches

Vot, I. - $e and

* Mrs Bruce died in 1784. ;

Ixvi | INTRODUCTION,

and arguments were to be mentioned, they were noted the
inftant afterwards ; for, contrary I believe to what is often |
the cafe, I can affure the reader thefe fpeeches and conver-

fations are abfolutely real, and not the fabrication of after-
hours. !

Ir will perhaps be faid, this work hath faults; nay, per-

haps, great ones too, and this I readily confefs. ButI muft .—

likewife beg leave to fay, that I know no books of the kind
that have not nearly as many, and as great, though perhaps.
not of the fame kind with mine. To fee diftincétly and ac-
curately, to defcribe plainly, difpaflionately and truly, is all
that ought to be expected from one in my fituation, con-
ftantly furrounded with every fort of difficulty and dan-
ger.

Ir may be faid, too, there are faults in the language 3.
more pains fhould have been taken. Perhaps it may
be fo; yet there has not been wanting a confiderable de-
gree of attention ‘even to this. Ihave not indeed confined.
myfeif toa painful and flavith nicety that would have pro-
duced nothing but a difageeable fliffnefs in the narrative: ©
It will be remembered likewife, that one of the motives of
my writing is my own amufement, and | would much ra-
ther renounce the fubject altogether than. walk in fetters
ofmy own forging. ‘The language is, like the fubject, rude
and manly. My paths have not been flowery ones, nor
would it have added any credit to the work, or entértain-
ment to the reader, to employ in it a ftile,proper only to.
works of imagination and pleafure. Thefe trifling faults
I willingly leave as food to the malice of critics, who per-

haps,

INTRODUCTION. ~~ Agyii

hans, were it not for thefe blemithes, Soul find no other en-
joyment in the perufal of the work.

Ir has been faid that parties have been formed again
this work. Whether this is really the cafe I cannot fay, nor
have I ever been very anxious in the inquiry. They have
been harmlefs adverfaries at leaft, for no bad effects, as far
as I know, have ever as yet been the confequences ; neither
is ita difquifition that I {hall ever enter into, whether this is
owing to the want of will or of power. [rather believe it is
to the former, the want of will, for no one is fo perfectly
inconfiderable, as to want the power of doing mifchief.

Havine now fulfilled my promife to the reader, in giv-
ing him the motive and order of my travels, and the reafon
why the publication has been delayed, I fhall proceed to the
laft article promifed, the giving fome account of the work’
itfelf. The book is alarge one, and expenfive by the num-
ber of engravings; this was not at firft intended, but the
_journey has proved a long one, and matter has increafed as it
were infenfibly unter my hands. It is now come to fill a
great chafm in the hiftory of the univerfe. It is not intend-
ed to refemble the generality of modern travels, the agree-
able and rational amufement of one vacant day, it is calcu-
lated to employ a A greater {pace of time.

Tuosz that are the beft acquainted with Diodorus, Hero-
dotus, and fome other Greek hiftorians, will find fome very
confiderabie difficulties removed; and they that are unac-
quainted with thefe authors, and receive from this work the
firft information of the geography, climate, and manners of
thefe countries, which are little altered, will have no great

12 occafion

Ixviii INTRODUCTION.

occafion to regret they have not fearched for information in
more ancient fources.

' Tue work begins with my voyage from Sidon to Alex-
andria, and up the Nile to the firft cataract. The reader
will not expect that I fhould dwell long upon the particular
hiftory of Egypt; every other year has furnifhed us with
fome account of it, good or bad; and the two laft publica-
tions of M. Savary and Volney feem to have left the fub-
ject thread-bare. This, however, is not the only reafon.

Arter Mr Wood and Mr Dawkins had publifhed their
Ruins of Palmyra, the late king of Denmark, at his own ex-
pence, fent out a number of men, eminent in their feveral
profeflions, to make difcoveries in the eaft, of every kind,
with thefe very flattering inftructions, that though they
might, and ought, to vifit both Baalbec and Palmyra for
their own ftudies and improvement, yet he prohibited them
to fo far interfere with what the Englifh travellers had done,
as to form any plan of another work fimilar to theirs. This.
compliment was gratefully received; and, as I was direcily
to follow this miffion, Mr Wood defired me to return it, and
to abftain as much as poflible from writing on the fame
fubjects chofen by M. Niebuhr, at leaft to abftain either
from criticifing or differing from him on fuch fubjects.
have therefore paffed flightly over Egypt and Arabia; per-
haps, indeed, | have faid enough of both: if any fhall he of
another opinion, they may have recourfe to M. Niebuhr’s
more copious work; he was the only perfon of fix who
lived to come home, the reft having died in different parts
of Arabia, without having been able to enter sel one
' of the objects of their miffion,

Mx»

INTRODUCTION. - f Ixix

My leaving Egypt is followed by my furvey of the Ara-
-bian gulf as far as the Indiam Ocean—Arrival at Mafuah
—Some account of the firft peopling of Atbara and Abyfiinia
~—Conjectures concerning language—Firft ages of the In-
dian trade—Foundation of the Abyflinian monarchy, and
various revolutions till the Jewifh ufurpation about the year
goo. Thefe compofe the firft volume.

Tue fecond begins with, the reftoration of the line of So-
lomon, compiled from their own annals, now firft tranflated
from the Ethiopic; the original of which has been lod-
ged in the Britifh Mufeum, to faust the curiofity of the
public.

Tue third comprehends my journey from Mafuah to
Gondar, and the manners and cuftoms of the Abyflinians,
alfo two attempts to arrive at the fountains of the Nile—~
Defcription of thefe fources, and of every thin grelating to
that river and its inundation.

THE pete contains my au from the fource a the
Nile to Gondar—The campaign ‘of Serbraxos, and revolution
that followed—My return through Sennaar and Beja, or
the Nubian defert, and my arrival at Marfeilles.

In overlooking the work I have found one circumftance,
and | think no more, which is not fufficiently clear, and.
may create a momentary doubt in the reader’s mind, al-
though to thofe who have been fufficiently attentive to the
narrative, I can fcarce think it will do this. The diffi-
culty issHow didyou procure funds to fupport yourfelf,

and.

Ixx | INTRODUCTION.

and ten men, fo long, and fo eafily, as to enable you to un-
dervalue the ufeful character of a phyfician, and feek nei.”
ther to draw money nor protection from it? And how came
it, that, contrary to the ufage of other travellers, at Gondar
you thaintained a character of independence and equality,
efpecially at court ; inftead of crouching, living out of fight
as much as poffible, in continual fear of prieits, under the
patronage, or rather as fervant to fome men of power.

To this fenfible and well-founded doubt I anfwer
with great pleafure and readinefs, as I would do to all o-
thers of the fame kind, if I could poffibly divine them :—It
is not at all extraordinary that aftranger like me, anda parcel
of vagabonds like thofe that were with me, fhould get them-
felves maintained, and find at Gondar a precarious. liveli-
hood for a limited time. A mind ever fo little polithed and
inftructed has infinite fuperiority over Barbarians, and it is
_in circumftances like thefe that a man fees the great ad-
vantages of education. All ihe Greeks in Gondar were o-
riginally criminals and vagabonds; they neither had, nor
pretended to any profeflion, except Petros the king’s cham-
berlain, who had been a fhoemaker at Rhodes, which pro-
feffion at his arrival he darefully concealed. Yet thefe
were not only maintained, but by degrees, and without
pretending to be phyficians, obtained property, commands,
and places. | 7

Hospiratiry is the virtue of Barbarians, who are hofpi-
table in the ratio that they are barbarous, and for obvious
reafons this virtue fubfides among polifhed nations in the —
fame. proportion. If onmy arrival in Abyflinia L aflumed

2 ; a fpirit

es

/

INTRODUCTION. , Txt

a fpirit of independence, it was from policy and reflection.
Thad often thought that the misfortunes which had befallen

-other travellers in Abyffinia arofe from the’ bafe eftimation

the people in general entertained of their rank, and the va-
lue‘of their perfons. From this idea I refolved to adopt a
contrary behaviour. I was going toa court where there
was a hing of kings, whofe throne was furrounded by a num-
ber of high-minded, proud, hereditary, punctilious nobili-
ty. It was impoffible, therefore, too much lowlinefs and
humility could pleafe there.

Mr Murray, the ambaflador at Conftantinople, in the fir-
man obtained from the grand fignior, had qualified me
with the diftinction of Bey-Adzé, which means, not an Eng-
lith nobleman (a peer) but a noble Englifhman, and he
had added hikewife, that I was a fervant of the king of
Great Britain. All the letters of recomimendation, ‘very
many and powerful, from Cairo and Jidda, had conftantly
echoed this to every part to which they were addrefied.
They announced that Iwas not a man, fuch as ordinarily
eame to them, to live upon their charity, but had ample
means of my own, and each profefied himfelf guarrantee
of that fact, and that they themfelves on all occafions were:
ready to provide for me, by anfwering my demands... |

Tue only requett of thefe letters was fafety and protection:
to my perfon. It was mentioned’ that I was a phyfician, to-
introduce a conciliatory cirumftance, that I was above prac-
tifing for gain. - That all I did was from the fear of God,
from charity, and the love of mankind. [-was a phyfician
in the city, a foldier in the field, a courticr every where,.
demeaning myfelf, as confcious. that 1 was not unworthy

of

o

lexii INTRODUCTION.

of being a companion to the firft of their nobility, and the
king’s ftranger and gueft, which is there a character, as it _
was with eaftern nations of old, to which a certain fort of
confideration is due. It was in vain to compare myfelf
with them in any kind of learning, as they have none;
mufic they have.as little; in eating and drinking they were
indeed infinitely my fuperiors; but in one accomplifhment
that came naturally into comparifon, which was horfeman-
fhip, I ftudioufly eftablifhed my fuperiority.

_ My long refidence among the Arabs had given me more
than ordinary facility in managing the horfe; I had brought
my own faddle and bridle with me, and, as the reader will
find, bought my horfe of the Baharnagafh in the firft days
of my journey, fuch a one as was neceflary to carry me,
and him I trained carefully, and ftudied from the begin-
ning. The Abyflinians, as the reader will hereafter-fee, are
the worft horfemen in the world. Their horfes are bad,
not equal to our Welfh or our Scotch -galloways. Their
furniture is worfe. They know not the ufe of fire-arms on
horfeback ; they had never feen a double-barrelled gun, nor
» did they know that its effect was limited to two difcharges,
but that it might have been fired on to infinity. All this
gave me an evident fuperiority. :

To this I may add, that, being in the prime of life, of no
ungracious figure, having an accidental knack, which is
not a trifle, of putting on the drefs, and fpeaking the lan-
guage eafily and gracefully, I cultivated with the utmoft
affiduity the friendfhip of the fair fex, by the moft modeft,
- refpectful diftant attendance, and obiequioufnefs in public,
3 abating

INTRODUCTION. Ixxit

abating juft as much of that in private as fuited their
humour and inclinations. I foon acquired a great fup-
port from thefe at court; jealoufy is not a paflion cf the
Abyffinians, who are in the contrary extreme, even to in-

difference.

Besipes the money I had with me, I hadacredit of L.4oo

upon Youfef Cabil, governor of Jidda. I had another upon

a Turkifh merchant there. I had ftrong and general re-
commendations, if I fhould want fupples, upon Metical Aga,

firk minifter to the fherriffe of Mecca. This, well managed,

was enough; but when I met my countrymen, the captains
of the Englifh fhips from India, they added additional
ftrength to my finances; they would have poured gold
upon me to facilitate a journey they fo much defired upon

- feveral accounts. Captain Thornhill of the Bengal Mer-

chant, and Captain Thomas Price of the Lion, took the con-
duct of my money-aflairs under their direction. Their Sa-
raf, or broker, had in his hands all the commerce that pro-

-duced the revenues of Abyflinia, together with great part

of the correfpondence of the eaft; and, by a lucky accident

‘for me, Captain Price ftaid all winter with the Lion at Jid-

da; nay, fo kind and anxious was he as to fend over a fer-
vant from Jidda on purpofe, upon a report having been»
raifed that I was flain by the ufurper Socinios, though it
was only one of my fervants, and the fervant of Metical
Aga, who were murdered by that monfter, as is faid, with
his own hand. Twice he fent over filver to me when I had
plenty of gold, and wanted that metal only to apply it.in

furniture and workmanfhip. Ido not pretend to fay but

fometimes thefe fupplies failed me, often by my negligence
Vou. I, K 7 in

Ixxiv INTRODUCTION.

in not applying in proper time, fometimes by the abfence of
merchants, who were all Mahometans, conftantly engaged
in bufinefs andin journies, and more efpecially on the king’s
retiring to Tigré, after the battle of Limjour, when I was
abandoned during the ufurpation of the unworthy Socinios.
It was then I had recourfe to Petros and the Greeks, but
more for their convenience than my own, and very feldom
from neceflity. This opulence enabled me to treat upon
equal footing, to do favours as well as to receive them,

Every mountebank-trick was a great accomplifhment
there, fuch as making fquibs, crackers, and rockets. There
was no ftation in the country to which by thefe accomplifh-
ments I might not have pretended, had I been mad enough
to have ever directed my thoughts that way; and I am cer-
tain, that in vain I might have folicited leave to return,
had not a melancholy defpondency, the amor patrie, feizcd
me, and my health fo far declined as apparently to
threaten death; butI was not even then permitted to
leave Abyffinia till under a very folemn oath I promifed ta
return.

Turs manner of conducting myfelf had likewife its dif-
advantages. The reader will fee the times, without their
being pointed out to him, in the courfe of the narrative. It
had very near oceafioned me to be murdered at Mafuah,
but it was the means of preferving me at Gondar, by putting
me above being infulted or queftioned by priefts, the fatal
rock upon which all other European: travellers had fplit: It
would have occafioned my death at Sennaar, had I not been
fo prudent as to difguife and lay afide the independent car-

1 ? riage

INTRODUCTION. Ixxv

riage intime. Why fhould I not now fpeak as I really
think, or why be guilty of ingratitude which my heart dif-
claims. I efcaped by the providence and protection of hea-
ven ; and fo little ftore do & fet upon the advantage of my
own experience, that I am fatisfied, were J to attempt the
fame journey again, it would not avail me a ftraw, or
hinder me from perifhing miferably, as others have done,
though perhaps a different way.

I nave-only to add, that were it probable, as in my de-
cayed ftate of health it is not, that I fhould live to fee a fe-
cond edition of this work, all well-founded, judicious re-
marks fuggefted fhould be gratefully and carefully attend-
ed to; but Ido folemnly declare to the public in general, ©
that I never will refute or anfwer any cavils, captious,
or idle objections, fuch as every new publication feems
unavoidably to give birth to, nor ever reply to thofe witti-
cifms and criticifms that appear in new{fpapers and periodi-
cal writings. What I have written I have written. My readers
have before them, in the prefent volumes, all that I {hall ever
fay, directly or indireCtly, upon the fubject; and | do, with.
out one moment's anxiety, truft my defence to an impartial,
well-i.formed, and judicious public.

E 2 CONTENTS.

pet

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ja aihnk ©

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BPR RSet ie OL ML) Mik.

DEDICATION.

INTRODUCTION, Page i

BO. QO. Kasosyt

SHE AUTHOR'S JOURNEY AND VOYAGE FROM SIDON TILL HIS

ARRIVAL AT MASUAH,

MERE 61D. E

THE Author fails. from Sidon—Touches at Cyprus—Arrives at
Alexandria—Sets out for Rofetto—Embarks on the Nile, and
arrives at Cairo, Page 1

4 | GH.AP

[xxviii CONTENTS.

Cc HA P. IL

Author's Reception at Cairo—Precures Letters from the Bey and
the Greek Patriarch—Vifits the. Pyramids—Obfer vations on their
Confiruction, P. 24

Ci ANA TP ai

Leaves Caire—Embarks on the Nile for Upper Egypt—Vifits Metra-
Lenny and Mobannan—Reajfons for fu pp ofing this the Situation of —
Memphis, 43

Got AOR ain

Leaves Metrahenny—Comes to the Sand Holouan—Fal Je Pyra-
mid—Thefe Buildings end—Sugar Canes—Kuins of mutilate
Reception there, ee

CE AVR, Oe Ngs

Voyage to Upper Egypt continued.-- Afomounein, Ruins there—Cawe
Kibcer Ruins--- lvir Norden miftahen--. Achmim-—Convent of Ca=>
thoitsem Lenutra = Magnificent Kuins---daventure with a Saint
there, “gr

CHAP,

tin

CONTENTS. Ixxix

Co Hl OP Vik

Arrives at Furfbout— Adventure of Friar Chriflopher—Vifits Thebes
—Luxor and Carnac—Large Ruins at Edfu and Ejue—Proceeds
en wis Voyage, blz

Cel VAP Vin
~ Arrives at Syene---Goes to fee the Cataraéd--- Remarkable Thi

The Situation of Syene—The Aga propofes a vifit to Deir and
Jorim—The Author returns to Kenné, I5@

Gibb AR UP: /V TEL,

The Author Jets out fron Kenné—Croffes the Defert of the Thebaid
—Vifits the Marble Mosuntains—<Arrives at Coffer on the Red
Sea—Tranfattions there,

169

Opa Goes Ma AAG? Da

Voyage to Fibbel Zumrud—Returns to Coffeir—Sails from Cofftir—
Foffatecn Ilands—Arrives at Tor, 204

GLE An Psi) Ke

Sails from Tor—Paffes the Elanitic Guif—Sees Raddua—Arrives

at Yambo—Incidents there—drrives at Jidda, 239

CHAP»

xxx - GONTENTS,

GH eae ee

Occurrences at Fidda—Vifit of the Vizir—Alarm of the Fadlory—— ~ a
Great Civility of the Englijb trading from India—Polygamy— -
Opinion of Dr Arbuthnot ill-founded—Contrary to Reafon and
Experience—Leaves Fidda, | OP. 265,

= @ Wo AY Ps AW,

Sails from Fulda—Konfodabh—Ras Heli, Boundary of Arabia Felix —
—Arrives at. Loheia—Proceeds to the Straits of the Indian Ocean
-—-Arrives there—Returns by Azab to Loheia, — 22Q4\) iaiuat

COR ASP. + OTe

Sails for Mafuah---Paffes a Volcano--- Comes to: Dahalac—Troubled
with a Ghoft---Arrives at Mafuah, | Bey

CONTENTS. _ [xxxi

BOOK II
ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST AGES OF THEINDIAN AND AFRICAN
TRADE—THE FIRST PEOPLING OF ABYSSINIA AND ATe-

BARA—SOME CONJECTURES CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF
LANGUAGE THERE,

G)Bi A Pit =

Of the Indian Trade in its earlie# Ages—Settlement of Ethiopia
Troglodytes—Building of the firft Cities, | P. 36%

C7 HOA YP. IL

Saba and the South of Africa peopledShepherds, their particular
Employment and Circumftances——Abyffinia occupied by feven Stran-
ger Nations—Specimens of their feveral Languages—Conjettures
concerning them, / 381

eras, /P.\ ‘IIT

Origin of Charatters or Letters—Ethiopic the ficft Language.— How
and why the Hebrew Leiter was formed, AI?

Vou. I. i SCE A P,

/

Ixxxil | CONTENTS,

COR APP a

Some Account of the Trade-Winds and Monfoons—Application of this
to the Voyage to Ophir and Tarfbifo, P, 427

CoH OAD Ps Vv.

Fluétuating State of the India Trade---Hurt by military Expeditions

of the Perfians—Revives under the Ptolemies—Falls to Decay
under the Romans, 447

Cer A. YP. et Vib

— Queen of Saba vifits Ferufalem—-Abyfinian Tradition concerning Her
—Suppofed Founder of that Monarchy-—Abyfinia embraces the
Fewifh Religion——Fewifh Hierarchy ftill retained by the Falafba
---Some Conjectures concerning their Copy of the Old Teftament, 47%

CH AY Po) VIE

Books in ufe in Abyfinia--~Enoch--Abyffinia not converted by the A-
pofiles---Converfion from Fudaifm to Ubriftianity by Frumentius, 493 ©

CHAP.

CONTENTS, Ixxxiii

Cw AY Po) VIE

War of the Elephant-—Firft Appearance of the Small-Pox---‘Fews
perfecute the Chriftians in Arabia---Defeated by the Abyffinians---
Mahomet pretends a Divine Miffion---Opinion concerning the Ko-
ran---Revolution under Fudith---Reftoration of the Line of Solomon

JSrom Shoa, P. 510

TRAVELS

guiensGi

tae

soe f

’

wes
lee
ae

feet Pme wo he
TO DISCOVER
THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

BOOK I.

THE AUTHOR'S TRAVELS IN EGYPT—VOYAGE IN THE RED SEA,
TILL HIS ARRIVAL AT MASUAH. .

ee

CHAP. I.

The Author fails from Sidon—Touches at Cyprus—Arrives at Alexan-
dria—Sets out for Rofetto—Embarks on the.Nile—and arrives at
Cairo. ;

a

GT was on Saturday the 15th of June, 1768, I failed ina
& French veffel from Sidon, once the richeft and moft power-
ful city in the world, though now there is not remaining a
fhadow of its ancient grandeur. We were bound for the
iifland of Cyprus ; the weather clear and exceedingly hot, the
wind favourable,

Vox. I. A THIS

2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tus ifland is not in our courfe for Alexandria, but lies to
the northward of it ; nor had {, for my own part, any curi-

ofity to fee-it. My mind was intent upon more uncommon,

more diftant, and more painful voyages. But the mafter
of the veffel had bufinefs of his own which led him thither 3,
with this I the more readily complied, as we had not yet got
certain advice that the plague had ceafed in Egypt, and it

ftill wanted fome days to the Feftival of St John, which is; °

fuppofed to put a period to that cruel diftemper *..

We obferved a number of thin, white clouds, moving with:
great rapidity from fouth to north, in. direct oppofition
to the courfe of the Etefian winds ; thefe were immenfely
high. It was evident they came from the mountains of A-
byffinia, where, having difcharged their weight of rain, and:

being prefled by the lower current of heavier air from the~

northward, they had mounted to poffefs the vacuum, and re-

turned to reftore the equilibrium to the northward, whence.

they were to come back, loaded with vapour from Mount.
Taurus, to occafion the overflowing of the Nile, by breaking.
againft the high and rugged mountains of the fouth..

Noruine could be more agreeable to me than that fight,

and the reafoning uponit. Ialready, with pleafure, antici-
pated the time in which I fhould be a fpedtator firft, after-
wards hiftorian, of this phenomenon, hitherto a myftery
through all ages. I exulted in the meafures I had taken,
which I flattered myfelf, from having been digefted with
greater confideration than thofe adopted by others, would

fecure

* The nuéta, or dew, that falls on St John’s night, is fuppofed to have the virtue to ftop the

plague. I have confidered this in the fequd. DSI ‘

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE y

fecure me from the melancholy cataftrophes that had ter-
minated ae hitherto-unfuccefsful attempts.

On the 16th, at dawn of day, I Siwy a high hill, which,from
its particular form, defcribed by Strabo *, I took for Mount
Olympus +. Soon after, the reft of the ifland, which feemed
low, appeared in view. We {fcarce faw Lernica till we an-
chored before it. Itis built of white clay, of the fame co-
lour as the ground, precifely as is the cafe with Damafcus,
fo that you cannot, till clofe to it, diftinguifh the houfes from
the earth they ftand upon.

Ir is very remarkable that Cyprus was fo long undifco-
vered{; fhips had been ufed in the Mediterranean 1700 years
- before Chrift ; yet, though only a day’s failing from the con-
tinent of Afia on the north and eaft, and little more from that
of Africa on the fouth, it was not known at the building of
Tyre, a little before the Trojan war, that is 500 years after
fhips had been paffing to and fro in the feas around it. _

Ir was,at its difcovery, thick covered with wood; and what
leads me to believe it was not well known, even fo late as the
building of Solomon’s Temple, is, that we do not find that
Hiram king of Tyre, juft in its neighbourhood, ever had re-
courfe toit for wood, though furely the carriage would
have been eafier than to have brought it down from the -
top of Mount Libanus.

Ag2 THAT

* Strabo, lib, xivs ps 78%, = ¢ It iscalled Mamilho, | + Newton’s Chronol, p. 183,

4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tuat there was great abundance in it, we know front
Eratofthenes*, who tells us it was fo overgrown that it could
not be tilled; fo that they firft cut down the timber to be
_ ufed in the furnaces for melting filver and copper ; that af~
ter this they built fleets with it, and when they could not
even deftroy it this way, they gave liberty to all ftrangers to:
cut it down for whatever ufe they pleafed; and not only fo,
but they gave them the property of the ground they cleared.

Tunes are fadly changed now. Wood 1s one of the wants:
of moft parts of the ifland, which has not become more
healthy by being cleared, as is ordinarily the cafe..

Ar + Cacamo (Acamas) on the weit fide of the ifland, the
wood remains thick and impervious as at the firft difcovery.
Large ftags, and wild boars of a monftrous fize, fhelter them-=
felves unmolefted in thefe their native woods; and it de=
pended only upon the portion of credulity that I was en-
dowed with, that I did not believe thatan elephant had, nor

many years ago, been feen alive there. Several families of

Greeks declared it tome upon oath; nor were there wanting
perfons of that nation at Alexandria, who laboured to con-
firm the affertion. Had {keletons of that animal been there,
I fhould have thought them antediluvian ones. 1 know
none could have been at Cyprus, unlefs in the time of Dari-
us Ochus, and I donot remember that there were elephants
even with him.

‘

In

* Strabo, lib, xiv. p. 684, + Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 780..

“hia

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5

_ In paffing, I would fain have gone afhore to fee if there
were any remains of the celebrated temple of Paphos; but
a voyage, fuch as I was then embarked on, ftood in need of |
vows to Hercules rather than to Venus, and the matter, fear-
ing to lofe his paflage, determined to proceed..

Many medals (fcarce any of them good) are dug up i
Cyprus; filver ones, of very excellent workmantfhip, are found
near Paphos, of little value in the eyes of antiquarians, being.
chiefly of towns of the fize of thofe found at Crete and
Rhodes, and all the iflands of the Archipelago. Intaglios there
are fome few, part in very excellent Greck ftyle, and gene-
rally upon better ftones than ufual in the iflands. I have feen
fome heads of Jupiter, remarkable for bufhy hair and beard,.
that were of the moft exquifite workmanfhip, worthy of any
price. All the inhabitants of the ifland are fubject to fevers,
but more efpecially thofe in the neighbourhood of Paphos.

We left Lernica the 17th of June, about four o’clock im
the afternoon. The day had been very cloudy, with a wind:
at N. E. which frefhened as we got under weigh. Our matter,.
a feaman of experience upon that coaft, ran before it to the
weftward with all the fails he could fet. ‘Trufling to a fign
thar he faw, which he called a bank, refembling a dark
eloud in the horizon, he gueffed the wind was to be from:

_ that quarter the next day.

Accorpincty, on the 18th, a little before twelve o’clock,

a very frefh and favourable breeze came from the N..W.

and we pointed our prow directly, as we thought, upom
Alexandria.

t ae 8:5

6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue coaft of Egypt is exceedingly low, and, if the wea-
ther is not clear, you often are clofe in with the land before
you difcover it.

A stronc current fets conftantly to the eaftward; and the
way the mafters of veffels pretend to know their approach
to the coaft is by a black mud, which they find upon the
plummet* at the end of their founding-line, about feven
leagues diftant from land.

Our mafter pretended at midnight he had found that
black fand, and therefore, although the wind was very fair,
he chofe to lie to, till morning,.as thinking himfelf near the
coaft; although his reckoning, cs he faid, did not agree with
what he inferred from his foundings. ;

As Iwas exceedingly vexed at being fo difappointed of
making the beft of our favourable wind, I rectified my qua-
drant, and found by the paflages of two ftars over the meri-
dian, that we were in lat. 32° 1’ 45”, or feventeen leagues
diftant from Alexandria, inftead of feven, and that by dif-
ference of our latitude only.

From this I inferred that part of the affertion, that it is
the mud of the Nile which is fuppofed to fhew feamen their
approach to Egypt, is mere imagination; feeing that the

point where we thea were was reaily part of the fea oppo-

fite to the defert of Barca, and had no communication what-

ever with the Nile.
ape | sie

* This is an old ftejudice, See Herodotus, lib. its p. go. fect. 5.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 5

‘On the contrary, the Etefian winds blowing all Summer
upon that coaft, from the weftward of north, and a current
fetting conftantly to the eaftward, it is impoffible that any
part of the mud of the Nile can go fo high to the windward
“of any of the mouths of that river.

Ir is well known, that the action of thefe winds, and the
conftancy of that current, has throwna great quantity of mud,
gravel, and fand, into all the ports on the coaft of Syria.

Aut vefltiges of old Tyre are defaced; the ports of Sidon,
*Berout, Tripoli, and tLatikea, are all filled up by the accre-
tion of fand; and, not many days before my leaving Sidon,
Mr de Clerambaut, conful of France, fhewed me the pave-
ments of the old city of Sidon, 7 feet lower than the ground
upon which the prefent city ftands, and confiderably farther
back in the gardens nearer to Mount Libanus.

Tuts every one in the country knows is the effect of that
eafterly current fetting upon the coaft, which, as it acts per-
pendicularly to the courfe of the Nile when difcharging it-
felf, at all or any of its mouths, into the Mediterranean, mutt
hurry what it is charged with on towards the coaft of Syria,
and hinder it from fettling oppofite to, or making thofe
additions to the land of Egypt, which { Herodotus has vain-
ly fuppofed.

Tue 20th of June, early in the morning, we had a diftant
profpect of Alexandria rifing from the fea. Was not the ftate

of

* Berytus, + Laodicea ad mare. t Herod. lib. ii. p. go

g TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

of that city perfectly known, a traveller in fearch of anti~.
quities in architecture would. think here was a field. for-.;
. long fludy and employment.

Ir is in this point of view the town appears moft 'to the-
advantage. The mixture-of old monuments, fuch as the-
Column of Pompey, with the high moorifh towers’ and |
fteeples, raife our expectations of the confequence of the-
ruins we are to find, |

Bur the moment we:are in the port the illufion ends, and
we diftinguifh the-immenfe Herculean works of ancient -
times, now few-in number, from the ill-imagined, ill-con-
ftructed, and imperfect buildings, of the feveral barbarous:
mafters of Alexandria in later ages. .

THERE are two ports, the Old and the New. The entrance -
into the latter is both difficult and dangerous, having a bar;
before it; it is the leaft of the two, though it is what is call-..
ed the Great Port, by * Strabo. .

Herre only the European fhips can lie; and, even when;
here, they are not in fafety; as numbers of veflels are con--
Rantly loft, though at anchor. .

Asove forty were caft a-fhore and dafhed to pieces: in:
March 1773, when I was on my return home, moftly belong- .
ing to Ragufa, and the fmall ports in Provence, while little -
harm was done to fhips of any nation accuftomed to the -
ocean.

* Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922, .

THE.SOURCE OF THE NILE. GJ

~ Ir was curious ‘to obferve the different procedure of thefe
different nations upon the fame accident. As foon as the
{quall began to become violent, the mafters of the Ragufan
veffels, andithe French caravaneurs, or veflels trading in the
Mediterranean, after having put out every anchor and cable
they had, took to their boats and fled to the neareft fhore,
leaving the veffels to their chance in the ftorm. They knew
the furniture of their {hips to be too flimfy-to truft their lives
to it.

Many of their cables being made of a kind of grafs call-
‘ed Spartum, could not bear the ftrefs of the veffels or agita-
tion of the waves, but parted with the anchors, and the fhips
perithed.

‘On the other hand, the Britifh, Danifh, Swedifh, and Dutch:
navigators of the ocean, no fooner faw the ftorm beginning,
than they left their houfes, took to their boats, and went all
hands on board. Thefe knew the fufficiency of their tackle,
and provided they were ‘prefent, to obviate unforefeen acci-
dents, they had’ no apprehenfion from the weather. They”
kmew that their cables were made of good hemp, that their:
anchors were heavy and ftrong. Some pointed their yards: .
to the wind, and others lowered them upon deck. After-
wards they walked to and fro on their quarter-deck with
perfeé compofure, and bade defiance to the ftorm. Not one’
man of thefe tired from the fhips, till calm weather, on the
morrow, called upon them to affift their feeble and more
unfortunate brethren, whofe fhips were wrecked and lay
{cattered.on the fhore.

Vou. L |: B Tue

12> TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

Tuz other port.is the * Eunoftus of the ancients, and.is to.
the weftward of the Pharos. [twas called alfo the Port of
Africa; is much larger than the former, and hes immedi-
ately under part of the town .of Alexandria. It has much.
deeper watcr, though a multitude of fhips have every day,,
for ages, been throwing a quantity of bellaft into it; and
there is no‘doubt, butin time it-will be filled up, and join-
ed- to the continent by this means. And pofterity may, pro-
bably, following the fyfem of Herodotus (if it fhould be fulk
fafhionable) call this as they have done, the reit of. Egypt, |
the Gift of the Nile. |

CurisTIAN veffels are not fuffered to enter this port; the.
only reafon:is, leaft the Moori/> women fhould be feen taking -
the air in the evening.at open windows ; and this has been:
thought: to be of weight enough for Chriftian powers to
fubmit to it, and:to.over-balance the conftant lofs of fhips, .
property, and men.

{ ALEXANDER, returning to Egypt from the Libyan fide,
was ftruck with the beauty.and fimmation of thefe two ports. .
¢ Dinochares, an architect who accompanied him, traced:
out the plan, and Ptolemy I. built the city.

Tue healthy, though defolate and. bare country round it,.
part of the Defert of Libya, was another inducement to pre~-
fer this fituation to the unwholefome black mud of Egypt; ;
but it had no water; this Prolemy was obliged to bring far

| : above

* Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922. + Strabo, lib. xvii. p.. 920. Q Cust. lib, iv. cap. 8).
$-Plin, lib, v. cap. 10. p.273..

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. i

above from the Nile, by a calith, or canal, vulgarly called
the Ganal of Cleopatra, though it was certainly coeval with
the foundation of the city; it has no other name at this day.

_ Turs circumftance, however, remedied in the beginning,
was fatal to the.city’s magnificence ever after, and the caufe
of its being in the ftate it is at this day..

THE importance of its fituation to trade and commerce,
miade it a principal objec of attention ‘to each party in
every war. It was eafily taken, becaufe it had no water ;
and, as it could not be kept, it was deftroyed by the con-
queror, that the. temporary pofleffion of it might not turn.

to be a fource of advantage to.an enemy..-

We are not, however, to fuppofe, that the country all
around it was as bare in the days of profperity as it is now.
Population, we fee, produces a {werd of grafs round ancient:
cities in the moft defert parts of Africa, which keeps the
fand immoyeable till the place is no longer inhabited.

I apprenenp the numerous lakes’ in Egypt were all.
eontrived as refervoirs to lay up a ftore of water for fup-
plying gardens and plantations in the months of the Nile’s
decreafe. The great effects of a very little water are feen:
along the califh, or canal, in‘a number of bufhes that it
produces, and thick plantations of date-trees, all in a very
luxuriant ftate; and this, no doubt, in the days of the

-Prolemies, was extended further, more attended to, and bet-

ter underftood.

No Ii. Ba Bompzy’s

2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Pompey’s pillar, the obelifks, and fubterraneous cifterns,
are all the antiquities we find now in Alexandria; thefe
have been defcribed frequently, ably, and minutely.

Tur foliage and capital of the pillar are what feem ge-
nerally to difpleafe ; the fuft is thought to have merited
more attention than has been beftowed upon the capital,

Tus whole of the pillar is granite, but the capital is of
another ftone; and I fhould fufpe& thofe rudiments of
leaves were only intended to fupport firmly leaves of me-
tal* of better workmantfhip ; for the capital itfelf is near
nine feet high, and the work, in proportionable leaves of

ftone, would be not only very large, but, after being finith-.

ed, liable to injuries.

Turs magnificent monument appears, in tafte, to be the
work of that period, between Hadrian and Severus; but,
though the former ere¢ted feveral large buildings in the eatft,
it is obferved of him he never put infcriptions upon them.

Tus has had a Greek infcription, and I think may very
probably be attributed to the time of the latter, as a monu-
ment of the gratitude of the city of Alexandria for the be-
nefits he conferred on them, efpecially fince no. ancient
hiftory mentions its exiftence at an earlier period. :

I APPREHEND it to have been brought in a block from the
Thebais in Upper Fgypt, by the Nile; though fome have
: imagined

* We fee many examples of fuch leaves both at Palmyra and Baalbec.

=
ey

ga
—s

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 13

imagined it was an old obelifk, hewn to that round form.
It is nine feet diameter; and were it but 80 feet high, it.
would require-a prodigious obelifk indeed, that could ad-.
mit to be hewn to this circumference for fuch a length, fo
as perfectly to-efface the hieroglyphics that. miuit have been.
very deeply cut in the four faces of. it. |

Tae tomb. of Alexander has been ‘talked of as one of the
antiquities of this city. Marmol * fays he faw it in the year:
2540. It was, according to him, a {mall houfe, in form of:
a chapel, in the middle of the city, near the church of St:

Mark, and was called Efcander..

Tue thing itfelf is not probable, for all-thofe that made
themfelves mafters of Alexandria, in the earlieft times, had’
too much refpect for Alexander, to have reduced his tomb.
to fo obfeure a ftate.. It would have been fpared even by:
the Saracens ; for. Mahomet fpeaks of Alexander with great
~ refpect, both as a. king and a-prophet. The body was pre-
ferved in a-glafs coffin, in + Strabo’s time, having been rob-.
bed of the golden one in which it was firft depofited. .

Tue Greeks, for the moft part, are better inftructed in the
hiftory of. thefe places than the Cophts, Turks, or Chrifti-.
ans ; and, after the Greeks, the Jews.

As I was perfectly. difguifed, having for many years worn
the drefs of the Arabs, was under no conftraint, but walked:
through the town in all directions, accompanied by any of:

thofe:

* Marmol, lib. xi. cap. 14. p. 276. tom. 3. + Strabo, lib. xvii, p. 922.

Ih TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

thofe different nations I could induce to walk with me ; and,

-as I conftantly fpoke Arabic, was taken for a* Bedowé by
all forts of people; but, notwithftanding the advantage this
freedom gave me, and of which I daily availed myfelf, I
never could hear a word of this monument from either
(Greek, Jew, Moor, or Chriftian.

Avexawpria has been often taken fince the time of Cz.
far. It was at laft deftroyed by the Venetians and Cypriots,
‘upon, or rather after the releafe of St Lewis, and we may
fay of it as of Carthage, Periére ruine, its very ruins appear
no longer.

“Tue building of the prefent gates and walls, which fome
have thought to be antique, does not feem earlier than the
jaft reftoration in the 13th century. Some parts of the gate
and walls may be of older date; (and probably were thofe of
the laft Caliphs before Salidan) but, except thefe, and the
pieces of columns which lie horizontally in different parts
of the wall, every thing elfe is apparently of very late times,
and the work has been huddled together in great hatte.

Ir is in vain then to expect a plan of the city,or try to
trace here the Macedonian mantle of Dinochares; the
very veftiges of ancient ruins are covered, many yards deep,
by rubbifh, the remnant of the devaftations of later times.
Cleopatra, were fhe to return to life again, would fcarcely
know where her palace was fituated, in this her own ca-
pital.

THERE
aa sattacnraauenmene reretnere ag ret cats lel agig ks Lhe te ee eee eae ee

* A peafant Arab.

THE SOURGE OF THE NILE, re

THERE is nothing beautifulor pleafant in the prefent Alex-
andria, but a handfome fireet of modern houfes, where a
very active and intelligent number of merchants live upon:
the miferable remnants of that trade, which made its glory.
in the firft times.

Ir is thinly inhabited, and thereis a tradition among the-
natives, that, more than once, 1¢ has been in.agitation to.a--
bandon it all.together, and retire to Rofetto,;or:Cairo, but
that they have been withheld by the opinion of divers faints:
from Arabia, who have aflured them, that Mecca being. de=.
ftroyed; (as it muft be as they think. by the Ruffians} Alex-
andria is then to become ‘he holy place, and. that Mahomet’s
body is to be tranfported thither; when that city is dé
ftroyed, the fanctified reliques are to be tranfported to Cai--
rouan,.in the kmgdom. of Tunis: laftly; from Cairouan they
are to come to Rofetto, and there to remain till the con-
faramation of all things, which is not-then to be. at.a great.
diftance.

Pro.emy. places his Alexandria in lat. 30° 31’ and in rounda
¢ numbers in his almagelt, lat. 31° north. —

Ovr Profeffer, Mr Greaves, one. of whofé errands’ into -
Egypt was to afcertain the ‘latitude of this place, feems yet, .
from fome caufe or other, to have failed in it, for though
he had a-brafs fextant of five feet radius, he makes the la-
titude of Alexandria, from a mean of.many-obfervations, to -
be lat 31° 4’N. whereas the French aftronomers from the.
Academy of Sciences have fettled: it at 319'11/2074 fo between’.
Mr Greaves and the French there is a. difference of 7720”, |
which is toomuch.. There is not any thing, in point of.

fituation,,..

46 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ?

fituation, that can account for this variance, as in the cafe of
Ptolemy ; for the new town of Alexandria is built from eaft’
to weft; and as all chriftian travellers neceffarily make their
obfervations now on the fame line, there cannot poffibly
be any difference from fituation. 3,23

Mr Niesuur, whether from one or more ebfervations he
does not fay, makes the latitude to be 31° 12” | Fromia
mean of thirty-three obfervations, taken by the three-feet
quadrant I have fpoken of, I found it to be 31° 11‘ 16”: So
that, taking a medium of thefe three refults, you will have
the latitude of Alexandria 31° 11’ 32% or, in’ round num-
ber, 31° 11/ 30”, nor do I think there poffibly can be 5” dif-
ference. ! of a ylod

. : 1 sila. Dsyouk

By an eclipfe, moreover, of the firft fatellite of Jupiter;
opferved on the 23d day of June +1769, I found ats longi
tude to be 30° 17’ 30” eaft, from the meridian: of | Green+
wich. ee aD

, We, arrived at Alexandria the oth. of June, and found
that the plague had raged in that city and neighbourhood
from the beginning of March, and that two days only be- »
fore our arrival people had begun to open their houfes
and communicate with each other; but it was no matter,
St John’s. day was ‘fof, the miraculous nudéta, or dew, had
fallen, and every body went about their ordinary bufinefs im
fafety, and) without fear. a ,
| gtk ; ay i od
Wirt very great pleafure'l had received’ my inftruments.
at Alexandria. I examined them, and, by the perfect ftate
in which they arrived, knew the obligations bwas under
to

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE uy

tO my correfpondents and friends. Prepared now for any
enterprife, I left with eagernefs the thread-bare inquiries
into the meagre remains, of this once-famous capital of
Egypt. ;

Tue journey to Rofetto is always performed by land, as
the mouth of the branch of the Nile leading to Rofetto, call-
ed the Bogaz*, is very fhallow and dangerous to pafs, and
often tedious; befides, nobody wifhes to be a partner for
any time in a voyage with Egyptian rede: if he can pof-
~ fibly avoid it.

Tue journey by land is alfo reputed dangerous, and
people travel burdened with arms, which they are deter«
miuned never to ufe.

For my part, I placed my fafety, in my difguife, and my
behaviour. We-had all of us piftols at our girdles, againft
an extremity; but our fire-arms of a larger fort, of which
we had great ftore, were fent with our baggage, and other
inftruments, by the Bogaz to Rofetto. I had a fmall lance,
called a Jerid, in my hand, my fervants were haere any
wvifible arms.

We left Alexandria in the afternoon, and about three
‘miles before arriving at Aboukeer,-we met a man, in ape
pearance of fome confequence, going to Alexandria.

Von. L G As

—s

* Means a narrow or fhallow entrance of a river from the ocean.

19 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

As we had no fear of him.or his party, we neither court-

ed nor avoided them. We paffed near enough, however, to
give them the ufual falute, Salam Alicum; to which the
leader of the troop gave no anfwer, but faid to one of his
fervants, as in contempt, Bedowé! they are peafants, or coun-
try Arabs.. I was much better pleafed with this token that
we had deceived them, than if they had returned the falute
twenty times.

Some inconfiderable ruins are at Aboukeer, and feem to
denote, that it was the former fituation of an ancient city.
There is here alfo an inlet of the fea; and the diftance, fome-
thing lefs than four leagues from Alexandria, warrants us.
to fay that it is Canopus, one of the moft ancient cities in
the world; its ruins, notwithftanding the neighbourhood
of the branch of the Nile, which goes by that name, have
not yet been covered by the increafe of the land of Egypt.

Ar Medea, which we fuppofe, by its diftance of. near

feven leagues, to be the ancient Heraclium, is the paflage or

ferry which terminates the fear of danger from the Arabs;
of Libya; and it is here *fuppofed the Delta, or Egypt, be~

gins.

Dr Suawt is obliged to confefs, that between Alexandria
and the Canopic branch of the Nile, few or no vefliges are
feen of the increafe of the land by the inundation of the
river; indeed it would have been a wonder if there had,

ALEXANDRIA,,

* Herod. p. 108. tShaw’s Travels p. 293>.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 19

ALEXANDRIA, and its environs, are part of the defert of
Barca, too high to have ever been overflowed by the Nile,
from any part of its lower branches; or elfe there would
have been no neceflity for going fo high up as above Ro-
fetto, to get level enough, to bring water down to Alexan-
dria by the canal.

Dr Suaw adds, that the ground hereabout may have been
an ifland; and fo it may, and fo may almoft any other
place in the world; but there is no fort of indication that it
was fo, nor vifible means by which it was formed.

We faw no vegetable from Alexandria to Medea, excepting
fome fcattered roots of Abfinthium ; nor were thefe luxu-
riant, or promifing to thrive, but though they had not a
very ftrong fmell, they were abundantly bitter; and their
feaves feemed to have imbibed a quantity of faline particles,
with which the foil of the whole defert of Barca is ftrongly
impregnated.

We faw two or three gazels, or antelopes, walking one by
one, at feveral times, in nothing differing from the fpecies
of that animal, in the defert of Barca and Cyrenaicum ;
and the * jerboa, another inhabitant “of thefe deferts; but
from the multitude of holes in the ground, which we faw
at the root of almoft every plant of Abfinthium, we were
very certain its companion, the +} Ceraftes, or horned viper,
was an inhabitant of that country alfo. 3

C2 From

* See a figure of this animal in the Appendix. ~ See Appendix.

20 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

From Medea, or the Paflage, our road lay through very dry
fand; to avoid which, and feck firmer footing, we were
obliged to ride up to the bellies of our horfes in the fea.
If the wind blows this quantity of duft or fand into the Me-.
diterranean, it is no wonder the mouths of the branches of.
the Nile are choked up.

Att Egypt is like to this part of it, full of deep duft and:
fand, from the beginning of March till the firft of the in-
undation. It. is this fine powder and fand, raifed and loofen-.
ed by the heat of the fun, and: want of dew, and not being
tied faft, as it were, by any root or vegetation, which the
Nile carries off with it, and buries in the fea, and which:
many ignorantly fuppofe comes from Abyflinia, where every.
river runs in a bed-of rock..

Wuen you leave the fea; you ftrixe off nearly at right:
angles, and purfue your. journey to the eaftward of north;
Here heaps of ftone and trunks of pillars, are fet. up to:
guide you.in your toad; through moving fands, which:
fiand in hillocks in proper. directions, and which. conduct.
you fafely to Rofetto, furrounded on one fide by thefe hills.
of fand, which feem ready to cover it.

Roserro is upon that branch of the Nile which-was call-
ed the Bolbuttic Branch; and is about four miles from the:
fea, It probably obtained.-its prefent name from the Vene-
tians, or Genoefe, who. monopolized the trade of this coun-
try, before the Cape of Good Hope was difcovered; for it
is known. to: the natives by the name.of Rafhid, by which:
is meant the Orthodox.

THE:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, we

Tue reafon of this have already explained, it is fome
time or other ta: bea fubftitute to Mecca, and to be bleffed.
with all that holinefs, that the poffeiiion. of the reliques, a
their prophet can: give a

Dr Suaw* having always in. his mind the ftrengthening-
of Herodotus’s hypothefis, shat Egypt is created by the Nile, fays,.
that perhaps this was once a Cape, becaufe: Rafhid. has.
that meaning. But as Dr Shaw underftood Arabic perfectly
well, he mutt therefore: have. known, that Rafhid has no.
fuch fignification:in:any of the Oriental Languages. Ras,.
indeed; is a head land, or capes, but Raflit has no fuch fig-
nification, and. Rafhid a very ee one, as I have al--
ready mentioned. |

RAsHID Puaee Rofetto, is a-large;.clean, neat town, or:
village, upon the eaftern fide of the Nile. It is-about-three
miles long, much frequented. by ftudious and religious.
Mahometans ; among thefe too area confiderable number of.
merchants, it being the entrepot between Cairo and.Alex-
andria, and’ ve verja; here too the merchants have their
factors, who. fuperintend and watch over the ee:
which pafles the Bogaz toand from.Cairo..

THERE are Many: gardens; and muchiverdure,; about: Ro-
fetto; the ground is low; and‘retaims long the-moifture it:
imbibes from: the overflowing of the Nilew.. Here alfo. are
many curious plants.and flowers, brought from different.
countries, by Furs, and merchants-. Without this, Egypt,

fabject

* Shaw’s Travels, p. 294.

22 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fubject to fuch long inundation, however it may abound
in neceffaries, could not boaft of many beautiful produc-
tions of its own gardens, though flowers, trees, and plants,
were very muchin vogue in this neighbourhood, two hun-

dred years ago, as we find by the obfervations of Profper
Alpinus. | |

Tue ftudy and fearch after every thing ufeful or beau-
tiful, which for fome time had been declining gradually,
fell at laft into total contempt and oblivion, under the
brutal reign of thefe laft flaves*, the moft infamous re-
proach to the name of Sovereign. |

RosEtTTo is a favourite halting-place of the Chriftian tra-
vellers entering Egypt, and merchants eftablifhed there.
There they draw their breaths, in an imaginary increafe of
freedom, between the two great finks of tyranny, oppref-
fion, and injuftice, Alexandria and Cairo.

Roserro has this good reputation, that the people are
milder, more tractable, and lefs avaricious, than thofe of
the two laft-mentioned capitals ; but I muft fay, that, in my
time, I could not difcern much difference.

Tue merchants, who trade at all hours of the day with
Chriftians, are indeed more civilized, and lefs infolent, than
the foldiery and the reft of the common people, which is
the cafe every where, as it is for their own intereft; but

their

* The Mamaluke Beys.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 23

their priefts, and moullahs, their foldiers, and people living
in the country, are, in point of manners, juft as bad as the
others.

RosetrTo is in lat. 31°24’ 15” N.; it is the place where
we embark for Cairo, which we accordingly did on June
the 30th. :

TuEReE is a wonderful deal of talk at Alexandria of the
danger of pafling over the defert to Rofetto. The fame —
converfation is held here. After you embark on the Nile
in your way to Cairo, you hear of pilots, and mafters of
veffels, who land you among robbers to fhare your plunder,
and twenty fuch like ftories, all of them of old date, and
which perhaps happened long ago, or never happenca at
all. |

Bur provided the government of Cairo is fettled, and you
do not land at villages in ftrife with each other, (in which
circumftances no perfon of any nation is fafe) you muft be
very unfortunate indeed, ifany great accident befal you be-
tween Alexandria and Cairo,

For, from the conftant intercourfe between thefe two ci-
ties, and the valuable charge confided to thefe mafters of
veffels, they are all as well known, and at the leaft as much
under authority,as the boatmen on the river Thames ; and,
if they fhould have either killed, or robbed any perfon, it
muft be with a view to leave the country immediately ; elfe
either at Cairo, Rofetto, Fue, or Alexandria, wherever they
were firft caught, they would infallibly be hanged,

vic | "OH AP,

a4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

CHAP. IE

Author's Reception at Gairo—Procures Letters from the Bey and the Greek
Patriarch—Vifits the Pyramids—Ob/fervations. on their Conftruttion. —

_ ‘JT was in the beginning of July we arrived at Cairo, re-
I commended to the very hofpitable houfe of Julian and

Bertran, to whom I imparted my refolution of purfuing.

my journey into Abyflinia..

Tue wildnefs of the intention feemed to ftrike them great=-.
ly, on which account they endeavoured all they could to
perfuade me againft it, but, upon feeing me refolved, offer-
ed kindly their moft effectual fervices..

As the government of Cairo hath always been jealous of
this enterprife I had undertaken, and a regular prohibition
had been often made by the Porte, among indifferent people,
I pretended that my deftination was to India, and no one
conceived any thing wrong in that.

Tus intention was not long kept fecret, (nothing can be
concealed at Cairo:) All nations, Jews, Turks, Moors, Cophts,.
and Franks, are conftantly upon the inquiry, as much after:
things that concern other people’s bufinefs as their own.

Tue plan I adopted was to appear in public as feldom as”
poflible, unlefs difguifed; and.I foon was confidered as a:
7 Eakir,,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ‘2s

Fakir, or Dervich, moderately {killed in magic, and who ae
for nothing but ftudy and books.

- Turs reputation opened me, privately, a channel for pur-
‘chafing many Arabic manufcripts, which the knowledge of
the language enabled me to chufe, free from the load of
trafh that is generally impofed upon Chriftian purchafers..

Tue part of Cairo where the Frencli are fettled is exceed-:
ingly commodious, and fit for retirement.. It confifts of one
long ftreet, where all the merchants of that nation live to-
gether. It is fhut at one end, by large gates, where there
isa guard, and thefe are kept conftantly clofe in the time of
the plague.

Ar the other end is a large garden tolerably kept, in which
there are feveral-pleafant walks, and feats; all the enjoy-.
ment that Chriftians can hope for, among this vile people,
reduces itfelf to peace, and quiet; nobody feeks for more.
There are, however, wicked emiflaries whoare conftantly em-
ployed, by threats, hes, and extravagant demands, to tor-
ment them, and keep them from enjoying that repofe,
which would content them inftead of freedom, and. more
folid happinefs, in their own: country.

I have always confidered the French at Cairo, as a num-
ber of honeft, polifhed, and induftrious men, by. fome fa-.
tality condemned to the gallies; and I muft own, never did.
a fet of people bear their continual vexations with. more
fortitude and manlinefs,

Vou. L D THEIR

26 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

Tuer own affairs they keep to themfelves, and, notwith-
ftanding the bad profpect always before them, they never
fail to put on a chearful face to a ftranger, and protect and
help him to the utmoft of their power; as if his little con-
cerns, often ridiculous, always very troublefome ones, were
the only charge they had in hand.

But a more brutal, unjuft, tyrannical, oppreffive, avari-
acious fet of infernal mifcreants, there is not on earth, than
are the members of the government of Cairo.

Tuere is alfo at Cairo a Venetian conful, and a houfe of
that nation called Pivi, all excellent people.

The government of Cairo is much praifed by fome. It
may perhaps have merit when explained, but I never could
underftand it, and therefore cannot explain it.

i)

Ir is faid to confift of twenty-four Beys; yet its admirers
could never fix upon one year in which there was that
number. There were but feven when I was at Cairo, and
one who commanded the whole.

Tue Beys are underftoed to be vefted with the fovereign
power of the country; yet fometimes a Kaya commands
abfolutely, and, though of an inferior rank, he makes his
fervants, Beys or Sovereigns. . :

Ar a time of peace, when Beys are contented to be on an
eqvality, and no ambitious one attempts to govern the
whole, there is a number of inferior officers depending up-
on each of the Beys, fuch as Kayas, Schourbatchies, and

the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE = a7

thie like, who are but fubjects in refpec to the Beys, yet ex-
ercife unlimited jurifdiction over the people in the city, and:
appoint others to do the fame over villages in the country. .

THere are perhaps four hundred inhabitants in Cairo, who”
have abfolute power, and adminifter what they call juttice,.
in theirown way, and according to their.own views.

FoRTUNATELY.in my time this many-headed monfter was:
no more, there was but one’ Ali Bey,.and there: was neither
inferior nor fuperior jurifdiction exercifed, but by his offi-
cers only.. This happy flate did not laft long. In order to
be a Bey, the perfon muft have been ‘a flave, and bought for:
money, at amarket. Every Bey has a great number of fer-.
-yants, flaves to him, as he was to others before; thefe are:
his guards, and thefe he promotes to places in his houfe--
hold, according as they are qualified...

Tue firt of thefe domeftic charges is that of Hafnadar;.
or treafurer, who:governs his whole houfehold; and when--
ever his mafter the Bey: dies, whatever-number of children:
he may have, they never fucceed him but. this man mar--
ries his wife, and inherits his dignity and fortune...

Tue Bey is old, the wife is young, & is the hafnadar, upom:
whom fhe depends. for-every thing, and whom fhe mutt.
look upon as the prefumptive hufband ; and thofe people :
who conceal, or coniine their-women, and are jealous, up-.-
“on the moft remote occafion, never feel any jealoufy for the.
probable confequences of this. paffion, from the exiftence of-
fach. connection.

28 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ir is very extraordinary, to find a race of men in power,.
all agree to leave their fucceflion to ftrangers, in preference
to their own children, for a number of ages; and that no.
one fhould ever have attempted to make his fon fucceed him,
either in dignity or eflate, in preference to a flave, whom
he has bought for money like a beatt.

Tue Beys themfelves have feldom children, and thofe
they have, feldom live. I have heard it as a common obfer-
vation, that Cairo is very unwholefome for young children.
in general; the proftitution of the Beys from early youth
probably give their progeny a worfe chance than thofe of
others.

TueE inftant that I arrived at Cairo was perhaps the only .
one in which I ever could have been allowed, fingle and un-
protected as I was, to have made my intended journey.

Au Bey, lately known in Europe by various narratives
of the laft tranfactions of his life, after having undergone
many changes of fortune, and been banifhed by his rivals
from his capital, at laft had enjoyed the fatisfaction of a re-
turn, and of making himfelf abfolute in Cairo,

Tue Port had conftantly been adverfe to him, and he
cher ifhed the ftrongeft refentment in his heart. He wifhed
nothing fo much as to contribute his part to rend the Ot-.
toman empire to pieces. |

A FAVOURAELE opportunity prefented itfelf in the Ruffian.
war, and Ali Bey was prepared to go all lengths in fup-
port of that power. But never was there an expedition fo

fuccefsful

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 29

fuccefsful and fo diftant, where the officers were lefs in-
ftructed from the cabinet, more ignorant of the countries,
more given to ufelefs parade, or more intoxicated with plea-
fre, than the Ruffians on the Mediterranean then were.

Arrer the defeat, and burning of the Turkifh {quadron,
upon the coaft of Afia Minor, there was not a fail appeared
that did not de them homage. They were prope ly and
advantageoufly fituated at Paros, or rather, I mean, a fqua-
dron of fhips of one half their number, would have been
properly placed there.

Tue number of Bafhas and Governors in Caramania,
very feldom in their allegiance to the Port, were then in ac-
tual rebellion ; great part of Syria was in the fame fituation,
down to Tripoli and Sidon; and thence Shekh Daher, from

Acre to the plains of Efdraelon, and to the very frontiers of

Egypt

Wir circumftances fo favourable, and a force fo tri-
umphant, Egypt and Syria would probably have fallen
difmembered from the Ottoman empire. But it was very
plain, that the Ruffian commanders were not provided
with inftructions, and had no idea how far their victory
might have carried them, or how to manage thofe they
had conquered.

They had no confidential correfpondence with Ali Bey,
though they might have fafely trufted him as he would
have trufted them ; but neither of them'were provided with
proper negotiators, nor did they ever underftand one ano-
ther till it was too late, and till their enemies, taking ad-

vantage

jo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:
vantage of their tardinefs, had rendered the firft and great
fcheme impoffible..

Carto Rozertt, a Venetian merchant, 2 young man of
capacity and intrigue, had for:-fome years governed the Bey:
abfolutely. Had fuch a man been on board the fleet with:

a commiffion, after receiving inftructions from Peterfburgh, .

the Ottoman empire in. Egypt was at an end.

Tue Bey, with all his good fenfe and underflanding, was.
ftill a mamaluke, and had the principles of a flave,. Three
men of different religions poflefled his confidence and go-
verned’ his, councils alk at a time. The one was a.Greek,.

the other a Jew, andthe third an Egyptian Copht, his fecre-.

tary. It would have required a. great deal of difcernment:
and penetration to have-determined which of thefe was the.
moft worthlefs, or molt lkely to betray him. .

Tue fecretary, whofe name -was Rifk, had the addrefs to:
fupplant the other two at the time they thought themfelves:
at the pinnacle of their glory; over-awing every Turk, and’
robbing every Chrittian, the Greek was banifhed from Egypt, ,

and the Jew baftinadoed to death. Such is the tenure. of;

Egyptian minitters.

Risx profefled aftrolagy, and the Bey, like all other Turks, .

believed in it. implicitely, and to this folly he facrificed his,
own. good: underftanding ; and Rifk, probably in pay to Con-.
ftantinople, led him from one wild fcheme to another, till:
he undid, him——by the ftars..

THE:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 33

THE apparatus of inftruments that were opened at the
cuftom-houfe of Alexandria, prepoffeffed Rifk in favour of
my fuperior knowledge in aftrology.

Tue Jew, who was mafter of the cuftom-houfe, was not
only ordered to refrain from towching or raking them out
of their places {a great mortification to a Turkifh cuftom-
houfe, where every thing is handed about and fhewn) but
an order from the Bey alfo arrived that they fhould be fent
to me without duty or fees, becaufe they were not-merchan-
dife.

I was very thankful for that favour, not for the fake of
faving the dues at the cuftom-houfe, but becaufe I was ex-
cufed from having them taken out of their cafes by rough
and violent hands, which certainly would have broken fome-

thing.

Risk waited upon me next day, and let me know from
whom the favour came; on which we all thought this was
a hint for a prefent; and accordingly, as I had other bufi-
nefs with the Bey, I had prepared a very handfome one.

But I was exceedingly aftonithed when defiring to know
the time when it was to be offered ; it not only was refufed,
but fome few trifies were fent as a prefent from the fecre-
tary with this meflage: “That, when I had rcpofed, he
“ would vifit me, defire to fee me make ufe of thefe inftru-
“ ments; and, in the mean time, that I might reft confident,
that nobody durft any way moleft me while in Cairo, for
“ I was under the immediate protection of the Bey.”

in TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

He added alfo, “ That if I wanted any thing I fhould fend’
“ my Armenian fervant, Arab Keer, to him, without trou-
“ bling myfelf to communicate my neceflities to the French,
“ or truft my concerns to their Dragomen.”

A.ruovucu I had lived for many years in friendfhip and
in conftant good underftanding with both Turks and Moors,
there was fomething more polite and confiderate in- this
than I could account for.

T wap not feen the Bey, it was not therefore any particu~
lar addrefs, or any prepoffeffion in my favour, with which
thefe people are very apt to be taken at firft fight, that could’
account for this; I was an abfolute ftranger; I therefore
opened myfelf entirely to my landlord, Mr Bertran..

I rorp him my apprehenfion of too much fair weather
in the beginning, which, in thefe-climates, generally leads.
to a ftorm in the end; on which account, I fufpected fome’
defign; Mr Bertran kindly promifed to found Rifk for me.

At the fame time, he cautioned me equally againft offend
ing him, or trufting myfelf in his hands, as being a man:
capable of the blackeft defigns, and mercilefs in the execu-.
tion of them.

ir was not long before Rifk’s curiofity gave him: a fair
opportunity. He inquired of Bertran as to my knowledge
of the ftars; and my friend, who then faw perfectly the
drift of all his condudt, fo prepoffefied him in favour of my
fuperior fcience, that he communicated to him in the in-
ftant the great expectations he had formed, to be enabled

by

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 34

‘by me, toforefee the deftiny of the Bey; the fuccefs of the
war; and, in particular, whether or not he fhould make
hhimfelf mafter of Mecca; to conquer which place, he was
about to difpatch his flave and fon-in-law, Mahomet Bey A-
bou Dahab, at the head of an army conducting the pilgrims. |

BERTRAN communicated this to me with great tokens of .
joy: for my own part, I did not greatly like the profeffion
of fortune-telling, where baftinado or impaling might be the
reward of being miftaken. | )

Burt I was toid I had moft credulous people to deal with,
and that there was nothing for it but efcaping as long as
poflible, before the iffue of any of my prophecies arrived,
and as foon as I had done my-own bufinefs.

THis was my own idea likewife; I never faw a place
I liked worfe, or which afforded lefs pleafure or inftruction
than Cairo, or antiquities which lefs anfwered their defcrip-
tions. .

In a few days, I received a letter from Rifk, defiring me
to go out to the Convent of St George, about three miles —
from Cairo, where the Greck patriarch had ordered an
apartment for me; that I fhould pretend to the French mer-
chants that it was for the fake of health, and that there
I fhouid receive the Bey’s orders.

ProviDENCcE feemed to teach me the way I was to go.
I went accordingly to St George, a very folitary manfion,
but large and quiet, very proper for ftudy, and {till more for
Vou. I. 13 executing

34 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

executing a plan which I thought moft. neceflary for my
undertaking,

Durine my flay at.Algiers; the Rev. Mr Tonyn, the king’s.

chaplain to that factory, was abfent upon leave. The bigot~-

ted catholic priefts there neither marry, baptize, nor bury
the dead-of thofe that are Proteftants.

THERE was a Greek. prieft, *Father Chriftopher, who con-
ftantly had offered gratuitoufly to perform thefe functions.
The civility, humanity, and good character of the man, led
me to take him to refide at: my country houfe, where I lived

the greateft part of-the year; befides that he was of a chear--
ful difpofition, I had practifed much with him both in-
fpeaking and reading Greek with the accent, not in ufe in«
our fchools, but without which that language, in the mouth,
of a ftranger, is perfectly unintelligible all over the Archi--

pelago.

Uron my leaving Algiers to go on my voyage.to Bar--
bary, being tired of the place, he embarked. on board a vef--
fel, and landed at Alexandria, from which foon after he was.
called to. Cairo by the Greek patriarch Mark, and made:
Archimandrites, which is the fecond dignity in the Greek.
church under. the patriarch... He too was well acquainted:

in the houfe of Ali Bey, where all were Georgian and Greck

flaves; and it-was at. his folicitation that Rifk had defired:
the patriarch to furnifh-me with an apartment in the Con-.

vent of St George,
THE

* Vid. Introduction, |

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 3

Tue next day after my arrival I was furprifed by the vifit
of my old friend Father Chriftopher ; and, not to detain the
reader with ufelefs circumftances, the intelligence of many
vifits, which I fhall comprehend in one, was, that there were
many Greeks then in Abyfiinia, all of them in great power,
and fome of them in the firft places of the empire; that they
correfponded with the patriarch when occafion offered, and,
at all times, held him in fuch refpect, that his will, when
fignified to them, was of the greateft authority, and that
obedience was paid to it as to holy writ.

FATHER CurisTopHer took upon him, with the greateft
readinefs, to manage the letters, and we digefted the plan
of them; three copies were made to fend feparate ways,
and an admonitory letter to the whole of the Greeks then
in Abyflinia, in form of a bull.

By this\the patriarch enjoined them as a penance, upon
which a kind of yubilee was to follow, that, laying afide their
pride and vanity, great fins with which he knew them much
infected, and, inftead of pretending to putthemfelves on a foot-
ing with me when I fhould arrive at the court of Abyflinia,
they fhould concur, heart and hand, in ferving me; and
that, before it could be fuppofed they had received inftruc-
tions from me, they fhould make a declaration before the
king, that they were not in conditien equal to me, that I was
_ a free citizen of a powerful nation, and {ervant of a great kings
that they were born flaves of the Turk, and, at beft, ranked
Hut as would my fervants; and that, in fact, one of their
countrymen was in that ftation then with me.

EK 2 AFTER

a6: TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Arter having made that declaration publicly, and done
fie, in prefence of their prieft, he thereupon declared to them;
that all their paft fins were forgiven.

Aut this the patriarch moft willingly and chearfully per=
formed. I faw him frequently when I was in Cairo; and:
we had already commenced a great friend{hip:and intimacy.

In the meanwhile, Rifk fent to me, one night about nine
o’clock, to come ta the Bey. I faw himthen for the firft
time. He was a much younger man than I conceived him.
to be; he was fitting upon a:large fofa, covered with crim-
fon-cloth of gold; his earban, his girdle, and the head of
his dagger, all thick covered: with fine brilliants; one in his

turban, that ferved to {upport a f{prig of brillants alfa, was:

among the largeft I had ever feen..

He entered abruptly into difcourfe: upon the war between:

Rufiia and the Turk, and afked me if I had calculated what

would be the confequence of that war?-I faid,,the Turks.
would be beaten by fea and. land wherever they prefented:

themfelves.

Acatn, Whether Conftantinople would be burned or taken?

—I faid, Neither; but peace would be made, after much:
bloodthed, with little advantage to either party...

He clapped his hands together, and. {wore an oath in:
Turkith,. then turned. to. Rifk, who ftood before him, and
faid, That will be fad indeed! but truth is truth, and God
is merciful:

Hs

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 33

He. offered me coffee and fweatmeats, promifed me his
protection, bade me fear nothing, but, if any body wronged
me, to acquaint him by Rifk.

Two or three nights afterwards the. Bey fent for me
again. It was near eleven o’clock before I got admittance
to him.

I mer thejaniffary Aga going out from him, and a num-
ber of foldiers at the door. As I did not know him, I paf-
fed him without ceremony, which is not ufual for any per-
fon to-do. Whenever he mounts on horfeback, as he was
then juft going to do, he has abfolute power of life and

_death, without appeal, all over Cairo and its neighbour-
hood..

He flopt me juft at the’ threfhold, and afked one of the
Bey’s people who I was? and was anfwered, “ It is Hakim
Englefe,” the Englith philofopher,.or phyfician.

He afked me in Turkith, im a very polite manner, if I
would come and fee him, for he was not well? I anfwered’
him in Arabic, “ Yes, whenever he pleafed, but could nct
then fay, as I had received a meflage that the Bey was wait-
ing.” ie replied. in Arabic, i No, no; g0, for God’s fake go;,
any time. wiltdo for meé.!

Tue Bey was fitting, leaning forward, with a wax taper
in one hand, and reading a {mall flip of paper, which he
held. clofe to his face. He feemed to have little light, or
weak eyes; nobody was near him; his people had been all
difmiffed, or were following the janiflary Aga out.

Hig.

38 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ©

He did not feem to obferve me till I was clofe upon him,
and ftarted when I faid, “ Salam.” I told him I came upon
his meflage. He faid, I thank you, did I fend for you? and
without giving me leave to reply, went on, “O true, I did
fo,” and fell to reading his paper again.

Arter this was over, he complained that he had been ill,
that he vomited immediately after dinner, though he eat
moderately; that his ftomach was not yet fettled, and was
afraid fomething had been given him to do him mifchief.

I ret his pulfe, which was low, a~d weak; but very little
feverifh. 1 defired he would order his people to look if his
‘meat was dreffed in copper properly tinned; I affured him he
was in no danger, and infinuated that I thought he had been
guilty of fome excefs before dinner; at which he fmiled, and
faid to Rifk, who was ftanding by, “ Afrite! Afrite”! heis a
‘devil! he isa devil! I faid, ff your ftomach is really uneafy
from what you may have ate, warm fome water, and, if
you pleafe, put a little green tea into it, and drink it till it
makes you vomit gently, and that will give you eafe; after
which you may take a dith of ftrong coffee, and go to bed,
or a glafs of fpirits, if you have any that are good.

He looked furprifed at this propofal, and faid very calm-
ly, “ Spirits! do you know I am a Muffulman?’ But I, Sir,
faid ],amnone. I tell you what is good for your body, and
have nothing to do with your religion, or your foul. He
feemed vaftly diverted, and pleafed with my franknefs, and
only faid, “ Hefpeaks like.a man.” . There was no word of
che war, nor of the Ruffians that night. I went home def

perately

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 59)

perately tired, and peevith at being dragged out, on fo foole-
ith an errand.. : |

Next morning, his fecretary Rifk came to me to the con—
vent. The Bey was not yet well; and the idea ftill remain-.
ed that he had been poifoned.. Rifk told me the Bey had
great confidence in me.. I afked him: how the water had
operated? He faid he had not yet taken any of it, that he
did not know how to make it, therefore he was come at
the defire of the Bey, to fee how it was made..

I imMEDIATELY fhewed him this, by infufing fome green:
tea in fome warm water. But this was not all, he modeft--
ly infinuated that I was to drink it, and fo vomit myfelf, in:
erder tofhew him how to-do with:the Bey.

I excusep myfelf from being patient and phyfician at:
the fame time, and told him, I would vomit dim, which
would anfwer the fame purpofe of inftruction; neither was -
this propofal accepted..

Tue old Greek prieft, Father Chriftopher; coming at the’
fame time, we both agreed to vomit the Father, who would
not confent, but.produced a-Caloyeros, or young monk, and*
we forced dim to take the water whether he.would or.not.

As-my favour with the Bey was now-eftablifhed by my
midnight imterviews, | thought of leaving my ‘folitary
mianfion at the convent. I defired Mr:Rifk to procure me °
peremptory letters of recommendation to Shekh.: Haman, .
to the governor of Syene, Ibrim, and Deir, in Upper Egypt.
PU procured alfo the fame from the janiflaries, to thefe three

} a {t

40 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Jaft places, as their garrifons are from that body at Cairo,
which they call their Port. I had alfo letters from Ali Bey,
to the Bey of Suez, to the Sherriffe of Mecca, to the Naybe
{fo they call the Sovereign) of Mafuah, and to the king of
Sennaar, and his minifter for the time being.

Having obtained all my letters and difpatches, as well
from the patriarch as from the Bey, I fet about preparing
for my journey.

Cairo is fuppofed to be the ancient Babylon%*, at leaft part
efit. Itisin lat. 30° 2? 36’’ north, and in long. 391°)26/ Gant,
from Greenwich. I cannot affent to what is faid of it, that
it is built in form of a crefcent. You ride round it, gar-
dens and all, in three hours and a quarter, upon an afs, at

an. ordinary pace, which will be above three miles an hour.

Toe Califh +, or Amnis Trajanus, paffes through the
length of it, and fills the lake called Birket el Hadje, the
firft fupply of water the pilgrims get in their tirefome jour-
ney to Mecca.

On the other fide of the Nile, from Cairo, is Geeza, fo calt-
ed, as fome Arabian authors fay, from there having been
a bridge there ; Geeza fignities the Paflage.

Asout cleven miles beyond this are the Pyramids, call-
ed the Pyramids of Geeza, the defcription of which is in
every

*Ptol. Geograph. lib. 4 Cap. §. t+ Shaw’s travels p. 294.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE gr

‘every body’s hands. Engravings of them had been publifh-
ed in England, with plans of them upon a large fcale, two
years before I came into Egypt, and were fhewn me by Mr
Davidfon -conful of Nice, whofe drawings they were.

He it-was too that difcovered the fmall chamber above
the landing-place, after you afcend through the long gal-
lery of the great Pyramid on your left hand, and he left
the ladder by which he afcended, for the fatisfaction of
other travellers. But there is nothing in the chamber fur-
ther worthy of notice, than its having efcaped difcovery fo
amany ages.

I THINK it more extraordinary ftill, that, for fuch a time
as thefe Pyramids have been known, travellers were con-
tent rather to follow the report of the ancients, than to
make ufe of their own eyes.

Yer it has been a conftant belief, that the ftones compo-

fing thefe Pyramids have been brought from the * Libyan
- mountains, theugh any one who will take the pains to re-
move the fand on thegfouth fide, will find the folid rock
there hewn into fteps. t

Anp in the roof of the large chamber, where the Sar-
cophagus ftands, as alfo in the top of the roof of the gallery,
as you go up into that chamber, you fee large fragments

Vor. I. ae of

* Herod. lib. 2, cap. 8,

Am FRAVELS TO DISCOVE R:-

of the rock, affording an unanfwerable proof, that thofe’-

}

Pyramids weré orice hiigé rocks, ftanding where they now

are; that fome of them, the moft proper from their form,
were chofen for the body of the Pyramid; and the others.
hewn into fteps, to ferve for the ae epraang and. the ex-.

terior pa of them. wa

CHAP

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LOC SE OS

tite Ml

London Lublifpad Dee!1°4739. by Ehobinson & lo.

fed}

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THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 43

ees TH.

Leaves Cairo—Embarks on the Nile for Upper Egypt-—V ifits Metrabenny
and Mobannan—Reafons for fuppojing this the fituation of Memphis.

WAVING now provided every thing neceflary,and taken a

rather melancholy leave of our very indulgent friends,

who had great apprehenfions that we fhould never return ;

and fearing that our ftay till the very exceffive heats were

paft, might involve us in another difficulty, that of mif-

fing the Etefian winds, we fecured .a boat to carry us to Fur-
fhout, the refidence of Hamam, the Shekh of Upper Egypt.

‘Tuts fort of veffel is called a Canja, and is one of the
moft commodious ufed on any river, being fafe, and expedi-
tious at the fame time, nibiciatee at firft fi soe it has.a ftrong
appearance of danger.

‘Tuat on which-we embarked- was about roo feet from
ftern to ftem, with two mafts, main and-foremaft, and two
monftrous Latine fails ; the main-fail yard being about 200
feet in length. 291g OI Dov: MIEGTIG | :

Tur ftradture of this vefldl is° eafily’ conceived, from the
draught, plan, and fection. - It'is about'3o fect ii the beam,
and about 90 feet in keel. mk eI. beoinel |

Tue keel is not ftraight, but a portion of a parabola whofe
curve is almoft infenfible to the eye. But it has this good
F 2 effect

a4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

effect in failing, that whereas the bed of the Nile, when the:
water grows low,,is full of fand banks under. water, the keel
under the ftem, where the curve is greateft, firft. {trikes up-
on thefe banks, and is faft, but the reft of the fhip is afloat ;.
fo that by the help of oars, and afliftance of the ftream,.
furling the fails, you.get eafily off; whereas, was the keel
ftraight, and the veflel. going with the preffure of that im-
menfe main-fail, you would be fo faft upon the bank as to
lie there like a wreck for ever.. :

Tuis-yard and fail is-never lowered. The failors climb-and
furl.it as it ftands. When they fhift.the fail, they do it with.
a thick. ftick like.a quarter.ftaff, which they, calla nobeot, put -
between the lafhing of the yard and the fail; they then twit.
this ftick round till the fail and yard turn over to the. fide re--
quired... 7

Wuen I fay the yard and fail are never lowered, I-mean:
while we are. getting up the ftream, before the wind; fox,
otherwife, when the. veffel returns, they take out the maft,
lay down the: yards, and put by their fails, fo that the:
boat defcends like a wreck broadfide forwards ;- otherwife,.,
being fo heavy a-loft, were fhe to touch-with her ftem gos.
ing down the ftream, fhe could. not fail.to. carry away her.
mafts, and perhaps be ftaved to pieces.. :

’ Tue cabin has a-very: decent and agreeable dining-room;.,
about twenty. feet fquare, with windows that have clofe.
and latticed fhutters, fo that. you: may, open them at will,
in the day-time, and: enjoy the frefhinefs of the air; but:
great care muft be taken to keep thefe fhut at night.

A CERTAIN,

LO LS 20 25 3o 35

Qy

fo

2 Fs 7 ? =
() Ye SLOW Of he MIPYUP .
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London Lublifhil Dec’? 4 78y ln C Robinson & 0 .

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 4

A certain kind of robber, peculiar to the Nile, is con-
ftantly on the watch to rob boats, in which they fuppofe
the crew are off their guard. They generally approach the
boat when it is calm, either fwimming under water, or when
it is dark, upon goats {kins; after which, they mount with.
the utmoft filence, and take away whatever they can lay
their hands en: — |

Tuny are not very fond, I am told, of meddling with vef=
fels whereon they fee Franks, or Europeans, becaufe by:
them fome have been wounded with fire-arms.

‘Fue attempts are generally made when:you are at‘anchor;
er under weigh, at night, in very moderate weather; but:
efteneft when you: are falling down the ftream without
mafts ; for it requires, ftrength, vigour, and’ {kill, to get
aboard a veffel gomg before a: brifk wind ; though indeed
they are abundantly provided with all thefe requifites.

BexInD the dining-room (that is, nearer the ftern,) you:
have a bed-chamber ten feet long, and a place for putting”
your books and arms. With the latter we were plentiful-.
by fupplied; both with thofe of the ufeful kind, and thofe-
(f{uch as large blunderbuffes,) meant to ftriketerror. We had
great abundance of ammunition likewife, both for our de--
fence and {port..

Wira books we were lefs furnifhed, yet our library was:
cbofen, and a very dear one; for, finding how much my bag:.
gage was increafed by the accefflion of: the large quadrant:
and its foot, and Dolland’s large achromatic telefcope, I be--
gan to think it folly to load myfelf more with things to be«

carried

46 - TRAVELS TO DISCOVER »

carried on mens fhoulders through a country full of moun-
tains, which it was very doubtful whether I fhould get li+
berty to enter, much more be able to induce favages to car=
ry thefe incumbrances for me.

“To reduce the bulk as BH SL oe poffible, after confider-
ing in my mind what were likelieft to be of fervice to me
in the countries through which I was pafling, and the feve-
ral inquiries I was to make, I fell, with fome remorfe, upon
garbling my library, tore out all the leaves which I had
marked for my purpofe, deftroyed fome editions of very
rare books, rolling up the needful, and tying them by them-
felves. I thus reduced my'library to a more compact form.

Ir was December'r2th when I embarked on the Nile at
Bulac, on board the Canja already mentioned, the remain-
ing part of which needs no defcription, but will be under-
ftood:immediately upon infpection.

Ar firft we had the precaution to apply to our friend Rifk
concerning our captain Hagi Hafflan Abou Cufh, and we ob-
liged him to give his fon Mahomet in fecurity for his be-
haviour towards us. Our hire to Furfhout was twenty-feven
patakas, or about L. 6:15: 0 Sterling.

THERE was nothing fo much we defired as to be at fome
diftance from Cairo on our voyage. Bad affairs and extor-
tions always overtake you in this deteflable country, at the
very time when you are about to Jeave it.

Tuer wind was contrary, fo we were obliged to advance
againft the ftream, by having the boat drawn with a rope.
WE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 47

_ We were furprifed to fee the alacrity with which two
young Moors beftirred themfelves in the boat, they fupplied’.
the place of mafters, companions, pilots, and feamen to us.

Our Rais had.not appeared, and I didnot augur much
good from the alacrity of thefe Moors, fo-willing to proceed.
without him...

However, as it was conformable to our own wifhes, we
encouraged and cajoled: them all we could. We advanced
a few miles to two convents of Cophts, called Deireteen*. -

Here we {topped to pafs the night, having had-a fine
view of the Pyramids of Geeza and Saccara, and being then
in fight of a prodigious number of others built of white
clay, and ftretching far into the defert to the fouth-wett.

Two of thefe feemed full as large as thofe that ‘are call. -
ed the Pyramids of Geeza. One of them was of: a very ex--
traordinary form, it feemed as if it had been intended at.
firft to be avery large one, but that the builder’s heart or
means had failed him, and that he had brought it to a very.
mif-fhapen difproportioned head at laft:

We were not-a little difpleafed to find, that, in the firft ”
promife of punctuality our Rais had made, he had difap-
pointed us. by abfenting himfelf from the boat... The fear
of a complaint, if we remained near the town, was the rea-
fon why his fervants had hurried us away ; but being now ~

out *

* This has been thought to mean the Convent of Figs, but it only fignifies the Two Convents.

48 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

out of reach, as they thought, their behaviour was entirely
changed; they fcarce deigned to fpeak to us, but fmoked
their pipes, and kept up a converfation bordering upon ri-
dicule and infolence. |

On the fide of the Nile, oppofite to our boat, a little far-
ther to the fouth, was a tribe of Arabs encamped.

THESE are fubject to Cairo, or were then at peace with its
government. They are called Howadat, being a part of the
Atouni, a large tribe that pefleffles the Ifthmus of Suez, and
from that go up between the Red Sea and the mountains
that bound the eaft part of the Valley of Egypt. They reach
to the length of Cofleir, where they border upon another.
large tribe called Ababdé, which extends from thence up
into Nubia.

Boru thefe are what were anciently called Shepherds, and
are now conftantly at war with each other.

Tue Howadat are the fame that fell in with Mr Irvine*
in thefe very mountains, and conducted him fo generoufly
and fafely to Cairo. Though little acquainted with the man-
ners, and totally ignorant of the language of his conduc-
tors, he imagined them to be, and calls them by no other
name, than “ the Thieves.”

One or two of thefe fraggled down to my boat to feek
tobacco and coffee, when I told them, if a few decent men
: among

* See Mx Irvine’s Letters,

_THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 49

among them would come on board, I fhould make them
partakers of the coffee and tobacco I had. . Two of them
accepted the invitation, and we prefently became great
friends.

{ REMEMBERED, when in Barbary, living with the tribes
of Noile and Wargumma (two numerous and powerful clans
of Arabs in the kingdom of Tunis) that the Howadat, or
Atouni, the Arabs of the Ifthmus of Suez, were of the fame
family and race with one of ——

leven had marked this down in my memorandum-book,
but it happened not to be at hand; and I did not really re-
member whether it was to the Noile or Wargumma they
were friends, for thefe two are rivals, and enemies, fo in
a miftake there was danger. I, however, caft about a little
to difcover this if poflible; and foon, from difcourfe and
circumftances that came into my mind, I found it was the
Noile to whom thefe people belonged; fo we foon were fa-
miliar, and as our converfation tallied fo that we found we
were true men, they got up and infifted on fetching one of
their Shekhs. ,

Irorp them they might do foif they pleafed; but they
were firft bound to perform me a piece of fervice, to which
they willingly and readily offered themfelves. I defired, that,
early next morning, they would have a boy and horfe ready
to carry a letter to Rifk, Ali Bey’s fecretary, and I would give
him a;piafter upen bringing back the anfwer.

Turs they inftantly engaged to perform, but no fooner
were they gone a-fhore, than, after a fhort council held to-
Vor. I. G gether,

59 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

gether, one of our laughing boat-companions ftole off on:
foot, and, before day, | was awakened by the arrival of our.
Rais Abou:Cufh, and his fon Mahomet.

Azsou Currr was drunk, though a Sherriffe, a. Hagi, and half
a Saint befides, who never tafted fermented liquor, «s he told
me when I hired him.—The fon was terrified out of his wits.

He faid he fhould have been impaled, had’ the meflenger —
arrived; and, feeing that I fell upon. means to keep open
a correfpondence with Cairo, he told. me he would not ‘run.

the rifk of being furety, and of going back’ to Cairo to an-

fwer for his:father’s faults, leaft, one day or another, upon.
fome complaint of that kind, he might be taken out of his:

bed and baftinadoed, to death, without knowing what. his.
offence was.

An altercation enfued; the father declined ftaying~ upon
pretty much-the fame reafons, and I was very happy to find
that Rifk had dealt roundly with them, and that I was ma-
fter of the ftring upon which I could touch their fears.

Tuey then both agreed to go the voyage, for none of
them thought it very fafe to flay; and I was glad to get
men of fome fubftance along with. me, rather than truft
to hired vagabond fervants, which Tefteemed the two Moors.
to be.

As the Shekh of the Howadat and I had'vowed friend-
fhip, he offered:to carry me to Coffeir by land, without any
expence, and in perfect fafety, thinking me diffident of my
boatmen, from what had pafled. s

I THANKED:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 51

- Truanxep him for ‘this friendly offer, which I am per-
fuaded I might have accepted very fafely, but I contented
myfelf with defiring, that one of the Moor fervants in the
boat fhould go to Gairo to fetch Mahomet Abou Cufii’s fon’s
cloaths, and agreed that I fhould give five patakas additional
hire for the boat, on condition that Mahomet fhould go with
us in place of the Moor fervant, and that Abou Cufh, the
father and faint (that never drank fermented liquors) fhould
be allowed to fleep himfelf fober, till his fervant the Moor
returned from Cairo with his fon’s cloaths.,

In the mean time, I bargained -with the Shekh of the
Howadat to furnifh me with horfes*to go to Metrahenny or
Mohannan, where once he faid Mimf had flood, a large city,
the capital of all Egypt.

Axt this was executed with great fuccefs. Early in the
morning the Shekh of the Howadat had paffed at Miniel,
where there is a ferry, the Nile being very deep, and attend-
ed me with five horfemen and a fpare horfe for myfelf, .at
Metrahenny, fouth of Miniel, where there is a ot planta-
tion of palm-trees.

“Tue 13th, in the morning about eight o’clock, we let out
‘our vaft fails, and paffed’a very confiderable village called
Turra, on the eaft fide of the river, and Shekh Atman,a fmall
village, confifting of about thirty houfes, on the weft.

Tue mountains which run from the cafile to the eaftward
of fouth-eaft, till they are about five miles diftant from the
Nile eaft and by north ef this ftation, approach again the
banks of the river, running in a direction fLuth and by

G 2 welt,

52 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

weit, till they engl elofe on the banks oi the Nile about
Turra, ; [ tid sos: anecPoclei Hsst

Tue Nile here is about a quarter of.a mile broad; and
there cannot be the. fmalleft doubt, in any perfon difpofed.
to be convinced, that this is by very far *the narroweft part
of Egypt yet feen.. For it certainly wants of half-a-mile: be-

tween the foot of the mountain and the Libyan fhore, which
cannot be faid of any other part. of Egypt we had yet come
to; and it cannot be better defcribed,than. it. is by: + Hero-
dotus; and “again, ofpofte to the Arabian fide, is another
$ fiony mountain of. Egypt towards. Faby te. covered wath:
“ fand, where are the Pyramids.”

As this, and many other circumftanees! to: be repeated:
in the fequel, muft naturally awaken the attention of the:
traveller to look for the ancient-city of Memphis here, deft:
our boat at Shekh Atman,, accompanied .by the Arabs, point-~
ing nearly fouth. We entered a large. and. thick wood of
palm-trees, whofe greateft extenfion feemed. to be fouth by
eaft. We continued.in this courfe till.we came. to-one, and
then to feveral large villages, all built among the plantation:
of date-trees, fo as {carce to be feen. from. the fhore..

Tuese villages are: called Metrahenny, a word from the:
etymology of which I can derive no:information, and.leav=
ing the river, we continued due weft'to the plantation that
is called: Mohannan, which, as far as I know, has no figni--
fication either.. ‘

ALB.

4

* Herod, lib. ii. p. 99. + Herod. lib. ii. cap. 8.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 5%

Att to the fouth, in this defert, are vaft numbers of Py=
ramids; as faras I could difcern, all of clay, fome fo dif-
tant as to appear juft in the horizon.

Havine gained the weftern edge of the palm-trees at Mo-
hannan, we havea fair view of the Pyramids at Geeza, which
lie in a direction nearly S. W. As far as I can compute the
diftance, I think about nine miles, and as near as it was
pofflible to judge by fight, Metrahenny, Geeza, and the cen-
ter of the three Pyramids, made an Ifofceles triangle, or
nearly fo. °

I asxep the Arab what he thought of the diftance ? whe-
ther it was fartheft to Geeza, or the Pyramids? He faid,
they were fowah, fowah, juft alike, he believed; from Me-
trahenny to the Pyramids perhaps might be fartheft, but he
would much fooner go it, than along the coaft to Geeza, be-
caufe he fhould be interrupted by meeting with water.

Aut to the weft and fouth of Mohannan, we faw great
mounds and heaps of rubbith, and califhes that were not of
any length; but were lined with ftone, covered and choked
up in many places with earth.

We faw three large granite pillars S. W. of Mohannan,
and a piece of a broken cheft or ciftern of granite; but no
obelifks, or {tones with hieroglyphics, and we thought the
greateft part of the ruins feemed to point that way, or
more foutherly.

THESE, our conductor faid, were the ruins of Mimf, the an-
cient feat of the Pharaohs kings of Egypt, that there was

v.1L g another

te TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

J

another Mimf, far down in the Delta, by whicli-he mea
Menouf, below Terrane and Batn el Baccara*y iy.)

Percervine now that 1 could get no further intelligence, ,

returned with my kind guide, whom I gratified for ns
pains, and we parted content witht each other..

In the fands I faw'a number of: hares; He ‘faid, if b:

would go with him to a place near Faioume, I fhould kilk
half a boat-load of them in .aday, and antelopes: likewife;
for he knew where to get dogs; mgean-while he invited
me to fhoot at them there, which I did not choofe ; for,
pafling very quietly among the date- ce I witfhed not:
to invite reiiaiee curiofity. . ) Res

Att the en in the date villages feemed tobe of a»
yellower and more fick-like colour, than any I had ever feen; -
befides, they had an inanimate, dejected, grave countenance, .

and feemed rather to avoid, than wifh any converfation,

Ir was near four o'clock in the afternoon when we re«

turned to our boatmen. By the way we met one-of our -
Moors, who told us they had drawn up the boat oppofite -

to the northern point of the palm-trees of Metrahenny.

My Arabinfifted to attend me thither, and, upon his arrival, ,

I made him fome trifling prefents, and then took my leave.

In the evening I received a prefent of dry dates, and fome »

fugar cane, which does not grow here, but had been brought

tO

* See the Chart of the Nile, j

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 55

to the Shekh by fome of his friends, from. fome of the vil-.
lages up the river.

Tue learned Dr Pococke; as far as IT know, is the firft
European traveller that ventured to go out of the beaten
path, and look for Memphis, at Metrahenny and Mohannan.

Dr SHaw, who in judgment, learning, and candour, is.
equa! to. Dr Pococke, or any of thofe that have travelled into.
Egypt, contends warmly for placing it at Geeza..

Mr Nizesuue, the Danith traveller, agrees with Dr Pococke.
T beheve neither Shaw nor Niebuhr were ever. at Metra-
henny, which Dr Pococke and my‘elf vifited; though alk
ef us have beem often enough at Geeza, and I muft con-
fefs, ftrongly as Dr Shaw: has. urged his. arguments, I can-
not confider any of: the reafons for placing Memphis at
Geeza as convincing, and very few of them that do not go
to prove juft the contrary in favour of Metrahenny.

Brzeore I enter into the argument, I-muft premife, that
Ptolemy, if he is good’ for any thing, if he merits the hun-
dredth part of the pains that have been taken with him by
his commentators, muft furely be:-received. as a:competent.
authority in this cafe.

THE inquiry is mta the pofition of the old capital of E-
gypt, not fourfcore miles from the place where he was
writing; and immediately in dependence upon it. And
therefore, in dubious cafes, I fhalk have no doubt to refer to
him.as deferving the greateft credit,

Dr.

56 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Dr Pococke * fays, that the fituation of Memphis was at
Mohannan, or Metrahenny, becaufe Pliny fays the + Pyra-
mids were’ between Memphis and the Delta, as they certain-
ly are, if Dr Pococke is right as to the fituation of Memphis.

Dr Suaw does not undertake to anfwer this direct evi-
dence, but thinks to avoid its force by alledging a contrary
fentiment of the fame Pliny, “ thatthe Pyramids { lay be-
tween Memphis and the Arfinoite nome, and confequently,
as Dr Shaw thinks, they muft be to the weftward of Mem-
phis.”

Mempuis, if fituated at Metrahenny, was in the middle of
the Pyramids, three of them to the N. W. and above three-
fcore of them to the fouth.

Wuen Pliny faid that the Pyramids were between Mem-
phis and the Delta, he meant the three large Pyramids, com-
monly called the Pyramids of Geeza, a1 g a8

But in the laft inftance, when he fpoke, of the Pyramids
of Saccara, or that great multitude of Pyramids fouthward,
he faid they were between Memphis and the Arfinoite nome;
and fo they are, placing Memphis at Mer ehomnie

For Ptolemy gives Niemanlie 29° 50! in latitude, and the
Arfinoite nome 29° 30’ and there 1s 8’ of longitude betwixt
them. Therefore the Arfinoite nome cannot be to the weft,
either of Geeza or Metrahenny ; the Memphitic nome ex-

tends

* Pococke, vol. I. cap. v. p. 39. t+ Plin. lib, 5, cap. 9. f Plin. lib. 36. cap, 12. .

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 57

tends to the weftward, to that part of Libya called the Scy-
thian Region ; and fouth of the Memphitic nome is the Ar-
finoite nome, which is bounded on the weftward by the fame.
part of Libya.

To prove that the latter opinion of Pliny fhould outweigh
the former one, Dr Shaw cites *Diodorus Siculus; who fays
Memphis was moft commodioutly fituated in. the very key,
or inlet of the country, where the river begins: to divide itfelf
into feveral branches, and forms the Delta...

I cANNOT conceive a greater proof of a man being blind-
ed by attachment to his. own opinion, than this quotation.
For Memphis was in lat. 29° 50‘, and the point of the Delta
was in 30°, and this being the latitude of Geeza; it cannot be
that of Memphis. That city muft be fought for ten or eleven.
miles farther fouth.

Ir, as Dr Shaw fuppofes, it was nineteen miles round,
and that it was five or fix miles in breadth, its greateft breadth
would probably be to-the river. Then 190 and 6 make 16,
which will be the latitude of Metrahenny, according to + Dr-
Shaw’s method-of computation.

Bur then it cannot be faid that Geeza: is either in the key-
or inlet of the country ; all to the weftward of Geeza is plain, ,
and defert, and no mountain nearer it on the other fide than.
the caftle of Cairo. |

Vou. 1. H De

* Diod. Sic..p. 45.§ 50 + Shaw’s Tavels, p. 296. in te latitude quoted.

58 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Dr Suaw* thinks that this is further confirmed by Pliny’s
faying that Memphis was within fifteen miles of the Delta.
Now if this was really the cafe, he fuggefts a plain reafon, if
he relies on ancient meafures, why Geeza, that is only ten
miles, cannot.be Memphis.

Ira perfon, arguing from meafures, thinks he is intitled

to throw away or add, the third part of the quantity that he ~

is contending for, he will not be at a great ftrefs to place
thefe ancient cities in what fituation he pleafes.

Nor is it fair for Dr Shaw to fuppofe quantities that never
did exift; for Metrahenny, inftead of f forty, is not quite
twenty-feven miles from the Delta; fuch liberties would
confound any queftion.

Tue Doétor proceeds by faying, that heaps of ruins t alone
are not proof of any particular place; but the agreeing of the
diftances between Memphis and the Delta, which is a fixed
and ftanding boundary, lying at a determinate diftance
from Memphis, muft be a proof beyond all exception].

Ir [could have attempted to advife Dr Shaw, or have had
an opportunity of doing it, Il would have fuggefted to him, as
one who has maintained that all Egypt is the gift of the Nile,
not to fay that the point of the Delta is a ftanding and deter-
mined boundary that cannot alter. The inconfiftency is
apparent, and I am-of a very contrary.opinion.

BABYLON

* Shaw’s Travels, cap. 4. pe 298. + Id. ibid. 299. $Id ibid. || Id. ibid.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 59

BABYLON, or Cairo, as it is now called, is fixed by the Ca-
lifh or Amnis Trajanus pafling through it.. Ptolemy * fays.
fo, and Dr Shaw fays that Geeza was oppofite to Cairo, or in:
a line eaft and weft from it, and is the ancient Memphis..

Now, if Babylon is lat. 30°, and fo is Geeza; they may be
oppofite te one another in a line of eaft and weft. But if
the Jatitude of Memphis is 29° 50/4, it cannot be at Geeza,.
which is oppofite to.Babylon,. but ten: miles. farther fouth,.
in. which cafe it. cannot. be oppofite to Babylon or Gairo..
Again, if the point of the Delta:be in lat. 30°, Babylon, or
€airo, 30°%,and Geeza be 30°, then the point of the Delta.
eannot be ten miles from Cairo or Babylon, or ten miles.
from Geeza.. —

Ir is ten miles from: Geeza, and ten miles from Babylon;,
er Cairo, and therefore the diftanees do not agree as. Dr:
Shaw fays. they.do; nor can the point of the Delta; as he
fays, be a. permanent boundary confiftently with his own
figures and thofe-of Ptolemy, but it. muft have been wafhed
away, or gone io’ northward; for Babylon; as he fays, is
a certain boundary fixed by the Annis Trajanus, and, fuppo-
fing the Delta had been a fixed boundary, and in Iat..30°,
then the diftance of fifteen. miles would juft have. made up
the fpace that Pliny fays was between that point and:Mem-
phis, if we fuppofe that great city was at Metrahenny..—

I suacu fay nothing as to his next argument in relation

to-the-diftance of Geeza from.the Pyramids ; becaufe, ma-
FA 2: ; kin g

*Ptol, Geograph. lib. iv. cap. §2;-

6o TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

king the fame fuppofitions, it is juft as much in favour of
one as of the other.

His next argument is from *Herodotus, who fays, that
‘Memphis lay under the fandy mountain of Libya, and that
this mountain is a ftony mountain covered with fand, and
is oppofite to the Arabian mountain,

Now this furely cannot be ‘called Geeza; for Geeza is
under no mountain, and the Arabian mountain fpoken of
here is that which.comes clofe to the fhore at Turra.

Drioporus fays, it was placed in the ftraits or narrow-
eft part of Egypt; and this Geeza cannot be fo placed, for,
by Dr Shaw’s own confeflion, it is at leaft twelve miles from
Geeza to the fandy mountam where the Pyramids ftand cn
the Libyan fide ; and, on the Arabian fide, there is no moun-
tain but that on which the caftle of Cairo ftands, which
chain begins there, and runs a confiderable way into the
defert, afterwards pointing fouth-weft, till they come fo near
to the eaftern {hore as to leave no room but for the river at
Turra; fo that,if the caufe is to be tried by this point only,
{am very confident that Dr Shaw’s candour and love of
truth would have made him give up his opinion if he had
vilited* Turret @ ‘3

Tue laft authority I fhall examine as quoted by Dr Shaw,
is to me fo decifive of the point in queftion, that, were I wri-
ting to thofe only who are acquainted with Egypt, and the
navigation of the Nile, I would not rely upon another.

HERopotus

*Herod. lib. ii. p.14t. Ibid. p. 168. Ibid. p. 105. Ibid. p.103. Edit. Steph.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 6:

Heroportws™* fays, “At the time of the inundation, the
“ Egyptians do not fail from Naucratis to Memphis by the
“ common channel of the river, that is Cercafora, and the
“ point of the Delta, but over the plain ce , along the
“ very fide of the Pyramids.”

NaucratTis was on the weft fide of the Nile, about lat.
305 30% let us fay about Terrane in my map. They then
failed along the plain, out of the courfe of the river, upon
the inundation, clofe by the Pyramids, whatever fide they
pleafed, tll ney came to Metrahenny, the ancient Mem-
“seid

Tue Etefian wind, fair as it could blow, forwarded their
courfe whilft in this line. They went directly before the
wind, and, if we may fuppofe, accomplifhed the navigation
an a very few hours; having been provided with thofe barks,
or canjas, with their powerful fails, which I have already
defcribed, and, by means of which, they fhortened their
pafflage greatly, as well as added pleafure to it.

But very different was the cafe if the canja was going
to Geeza.

Tuey had nothing to do with the Pyramids, nor to come
within three leagues of the Pyramids; and nothing can be
more contrary, both to fact aiid experience, than that they
avould fhorten their voyage by failing along the fide of
them ; for the wind being at north and north-weft as fair
as poflible for Geeza, they had nothing to do but to keep
i iii} as

*Herod. lib. i1. $97. p. 123

62 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

as direct upon itas they could lic. But if,as Dr Shaw thinks,,
they made the Pyramids firft, | would with to know in what

manner they conducted their navigation to come down up-

on. Geeza.

Tuer. veflels go only before: the. wind, and they had a.
ftrong fteady gale almoft directly in their teeth.

Tuey had no current to help. them ; for they were in ftill’
water ; and if they did not take down their large yards and’
fails, they were fo top-heavy, the wind had fo.much purchafe
upon them above, that there was. no alternative, but, either
with fails or without, they muft make for Upper Egypt3,
and there, entering into the firft practicable calith that was;
full, get into the main flream.

Bur their dangers were not ftill over, for, going-dowm
with a violent current, and with their ftanding-rigging up,
the moment they touched the banks, their mafts and yards.
would go overboard, and, perhaps, the veffel flave to pieces..

Norsine would then remain, but for fafety’s fake to ftrike: .

their mafts and yards, as they always do when they go down.
the river; they mutt lie broadfide foremoft, the ftrong wind’
blowing perpendicular on one fide of the veflel, and the vio-.
lent current pufhing it in a contrary direCion on the other;,
while aman, with along oar, balances the advantage the wind:
has of the ftream, by the hold it has of the cabin and upper.
works..

Tuts would moft infallibly be the cafe of the voyage from:
Naucratis, unlefs in ftriving to fail by tacking, (a manoeuvre

of:

THE. SOURCE OF THE NILE 63

of which their veffel is not capable) their canja fhould over-
fet, and then they mutt all perifh.

Ir Memphis was Metrahenny, I believe moft people who
had leifure would have tried the voyage from Naucratis by
theplain. They would have been carried ftraight from north
to fouth. But Dr Shaw is exceedingly miftaken, if he thinks
there is any way fo expeditious as going up the current of
the river. As far as I can guefs, from ten to four o'clock,
we feldom went iefs than eight miles in the hour, againft
a current that furely ran more than fix. This current
kept our veflel ftiff, whilft the monftrous fail forced us
through with a facility not to be imagined.

Dr Suaw, to put Geeza and Memphis perfectly upon a
footing, fays*, that there were no traces of the city now to
be found, from which he imagines it began to decay foon
after the building of Alexandria, that the mounds and ram-
parts which kept the river from it were in procefs of time
neglected, and that Memphis, which he fuppofes was in the
old bed of the river about the time of the Ptolemies, was
fo far abandoned, that the Nile at laf got in upon it, and
overflowing its old ruins, great part of the beft of which had
‘been carried firft to build the city of Alexandria, that the
‘mud covered the reft, fo that no body knew what was its
‘true fituation. This is the opinion of Dr Pococke, and
dikewife of M. de Maillet.

Tue opinion of thefe two laft-mentioned authors, that
the ruins and fituation of Memphis are now become obfcure,
is

* Shaw’s Travels, cap. 4.

64 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

is certainly true;. the foregoing difpute is a fuflicient:evis.
dence of this. | |

But I will not fuffer it to be faid, that, foom after the-
building of Alexandria,.or in the time of the Ptolemies, this
was the cafe, becaufe Strabo * fays,.that when he was in
Egypt, Memphis, next. to Alexandria, was the moft magnifi=
cent city in Egypt.

Ir was called the Capital + of Egypt, and-there was entire:
a temple: of Ofiris; the Apis (or facred:ox) was kept and
worfhipped: there. There was likewife-an apartment for
the mother of that ox: ftill ftanding, a temple of Vulcan of
great magnificence, a large { circus, or {pace for fighting
bulls ; and a great coleffus in the front of the eity thrown
down: there was alfo a. temple of Venus, and a.ferapium, ,
ina very fandy place, where the wind heaps. up hills of.
moving fand. very dangerous to travellers, and a: number -
of § {fphinxes, (of fome only their heads being. vifible) the:
others covered up ta the middle of their body, .:.

In the || front of the city were a number of palaces then:
i ruins, and hkewife lakes. Thefe buildings, he fays, flood.
formerly upon an eminence; they lay along the fide of the:
hill, ftretching down to the lakes and the-groves, and forty
fladia from the city ; there was a mountainous height, that
had many Pyramids ftanding upon it, the fepulchres of the
kings, among which there are three remarkable, and. two:
the wonders of the world.,

THIS; —

* Strabo. lib. vil... 914. Id. ibid. t Id..ibid, § Strabo, ibid.. | Id, ibid.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 65

‘Tus is the account of an eye-witnefs, an hiftorian
of the firft credit, who mentions Memphis, and this ftate of
it, fo late as the reign of Nero; and therefore I fhall con-
clude this argument with three obfervations, which, I am
very forry to fay, could never have efcaped a man of Dr
Shaw’s learning and penetration.

17, TuaT by this defcription of Strabo, who was in it, it
is plain that the city was not deferted in the time of the
Ptolemies.

2dly, THaT no time, between the building of Alexandria
and the time of the Ptolemies, could it be {wallowed up by
the river, or its fituation unknown.

3dly, THAT. great part of it having been built wpon an
eminence on the fide of a hill, efpecially the large and mag-
nificent edifices I have fpoken of, it could not be fituated,
as he fays, low in the bed of the river; for, upon the giving:
way of the Memphitic rampart, it would be fwallowed up
by it.

Tr it was fwallowed up by the river, it was not Geeza ;
and this accident muft have been fince Strabo’s time, which
Dr Shaw will not aver; and it is by much too loofe arguing
to fay, firft, that the place was deftroyed by the violent over-
flowing of the river, and then pretend its fituation to be
Geeza, where a river never came.

Tue defcent of the hill to where the Pyramids were, and
the number of Pyramids that were there around it, of which
three are remarkable; the very fandy fituation, and the

Vou. L jet quantity

66 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

quantity of loofe flying hillocks that were there (dangerous:
in windy weather to travellers) are very {trong pictures of
the Saccara, the neighbourhood of Metrahenny and Mohan-
nan, but they have not the fmaHei or moft diftant refem-.
blance to any part in the neighbourhood of Geeza..

Ir will be afked, Where are all thofe temples, the Serapi-.

~ um, theTemple of Vulcan, the Circus, and Temple of Venus? ‘

Are they found near Metrahenny ?

To this I anfwer, Are they found at Geeza? No, but had
they been at Geeza,they would have ftill been vifible, as they
are at Thebes, Diofpolis, and Syene, becaufe they are fur-
rounded with black earth not moveable by the wind. Vaft
quantities of thefe ruins, however, are in every ftreet of
Cairo: every wall, every Bey’s flable, every cifterm for horfes
to drink at, preferve part of the magnificent remains that
have been brought from Memphis or Metrahenny.—The
reft are covered with the moving fands of the Saccara; as:
the fphinxes and buildings that had been deferted were in
Strabo’s time for want of grafs and roots, which always.
{pread and keep the foil firm.in populous inhabited places,
the fands of the deferts are let loofe upon them, and have
covered them Arobably for ever..

A man’s heart fails him in looking to the fouth and fouth-
wef of Metrahenny. He is loft m the immenfe expanfe of
defert, which he fees full of Pyramids before him. Struck.
with terror from the unufual fcene of vaftnefs opened alk
at once upon leaving the palm-trees, he becomes difpirited.
from the effects of fultry climates.

FRoM

THE SOURCE:OF THE NILE, | 67

From habits of idlenefs contracted at Cairo, from the
ftories he has heard of the bad government and ferocity of
the people, from want of language and want of plan, he
fhrinks from the attempting any difcovery in the moving
fands of the Saccara, embraces in fafety and in quiet the
reports of others, whom he thinks have been more inquifi-
tive and more adventurous than himfelf.

Tuus, although he has created no new error of his own,
he is acceflary to the having corroborated and confirmed the
-ancient errors of others; and, though people travel in the
fame numbers as ever, phyfics and geography continue at
a ftand.

In the morning of the rath of December, after having
made our peace with Abou Cuff, and received a multitude
of apologies and vows of amendment and fidelity for the
future, we were drinking coffee preparatory to our leaving
Metrahenny, and beginning our voyage in earneft, when an
Arab arrived from my friend the Howadat, with a letter,
and a few dates, not amounting to a hundred.

Tue Arab was one of his people that had been fick, and
wanted to go to Kennéin Upper Egypt. The Shekh expref-
fed his defire that I would take him with me this trifle of
about two hundred and fifty miles, that I would give him
medicines, cure his difeafe, and maintain him all the way.

On thefe occafions there is nothing like ready compli-
ance. He had offered to carry me the fame journey with
all my people and baggage without hire; he conducted
me with fafety and great politenefs to the Saccara; I there-

Iz fore

68 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fore anfwered inftantly, “ You fhall be very welcome;,

upon my head be it.” Upon this the miferable wretch,.

half naked, laid down a dirty clout containing about ten
dates, and the Shekh’s fervant that had attended him. re-.
turned. in triumph...

I MENTION. this trifling circumftance, to fliew how eflen-.
tial to humane and civil intercourfe prefents are confidered:
to be in the eaft; whether it: be dates, or whether it be dia--

monds, they are fo much a part of their manners, that,
without them an inferior will never be at peace in his own

mind, or think that he has a hold of-his fuperior for his:

fayour or protection..

CHAD.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 60

GH AP. AV.

Leave Metrabenny—Come to the Tland Halouan—Falfe Pyramid—*
Thefe buildings end—Sugar Canes—Ruins of Antinopolis—Recep-
tion there.

UR wind was fair and frefh, rather a little on our’
beam.; when, in great {pirits, we hoifted our main and
fore-fails, leaving the point of Metrahenny, where our rea-
der may think. we have too long detained him. We faw
_the Pyramids of Saccara ftill S. W. of us; feveral villages
on both fides of the river, but very poor and miferable ;.
part of the ground on the eaft fide had been overflowed,
yet was not fown ; a proof of the oppreffion and diftrefs the
hufbandman fuffers in the neighbourhood of Cairo, by the
avarice and difagreement of the different officers of that.
motely incomprehenfible government. :

Arter failing about two miles, we faw three men fith--
ing in a very. extraordinary manner and fituation. They:
were on a raft.of palm.branches, fupported on a float of
clay jars, made faft-together. The form-was like an Ifofceles
triangle, or face of a Pyramid; two. men, each provided
with a caftin g net, {tood at the two corners, and threw their
net into the ftream together; the third ftood at the apex
of the triangle, or third corner, which: was foremoft, and
threw. his net the moment the other two drew theirs out

are ofs

70 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

‘of the water. And this they repeated, in perfect time, and
with furprifing regularity. Our Rais thought we wanted
to buy fifth; and letting go his main-fail, ordered them on
board with a great tone of fuperiority.

THEY were ina moment alongfide of us; and one of
them came on board, lafhing his miferable raftto a rope at
our ftern. In recompence for their trouble, we gave them
fome large pieces of tobacco, and this tranfported them fo
much, that they brought us a bafket, of feveral different
kinds of fifh, all fmall; excepting one laid on the top of
the bafket, which was a clear falmon-coloured fith, filvered
upon its fides, with a fhade of blue upon its back*: It
weighed about 1o lib. and was moft excellent, being per-
fectly firm and white like aperch. There are fome of this
kind 7o lib. weight. I examined their nets, they were ra-
ther of afmaller circumference than our cafting nets in
England; the weight, as faras I could guefs, rather heavier
in proportion than ours, the thread that compofed them be-
ing fmaller. I could not fufficiently admire their fuccefs,
in a violent ftream of deep water, fuch as the Nile; for the
river was at leaft twelve feet deep where they were fifhing,
and the current very ftrong.

Turse fithers offered willingly to take me upon the raft
to teach me; but I cannot fay my curiofity went fo far.
They faid their fifhing was merely accidental, and in courfe
of their trade, which was felling thefe potter earthen jars,
which they got near Afhmounein; and after having carried

the

* Named Binny, See Appendix.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ot

the raft with them to Cairo, they untie, fell them at the mar-
ket, and carry the produce home in money, or in neceflaries.
upon their back. A very poor ceconomical trade, but fuf-
ficent, as they faid, from the carriage of crude materials, the
moulding, making, and fending them to market, to Cairo
and to different places in the Delta, to afford occupation to
two thoufand men; this is nearly four times the number
of people employed in the largeft iron foundery ia Eng-
land. But the reader will not underftand, that I warrant
this fact from any authority but what I have given him..

-AzsourT two o'clock in the afternoon, we came to tle point
ef an ifland; there were feveral villages with date trees on
both fides of us; the ground is overflowed by the Nile, and
cultivated. The current is very flrong kere. We pafied a
village called Regnagie, and another named Zaragara, on
the eaft fide of the Nile. We them came to Caphar el Hay--.
at, or the Toll of the Tailor; a village with great plantations.
of dates, and the largeft we had yet feen..

We pafied the night on the S..W. point of the ifland be-.
tween Caphar el Hayat, and Gizier Azali, the wind failing:
us about four o'clock. This place is the beginning of the
Heracleotic neme, and its fituation a fufficient evidence that.
Metrahenny was Memphis; its name is Halouan.

Tus ifland is now divided into a. number of fmall’ ones,
by calithes being cur through and through it, and, under
different Arabic names, they ftillreach very farup the ftream.
I landed to fee if there were remains of the olive tree which

Strabo

72. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Strabo* fays grew here, but without fuccefs. We may im-
agine, however, that there was fome fuch like thing; be-
caufe oppofite to one of the divifions into which this large
ifland is broken, there is a village called Zeitoon, or the
Olive Tree.

On the 15th of December, the weather being nearly calm,

we left the north end of the ifland, or Heracleotic nome; ‘

our courfe was due fouth; the line of the river; and three
miles farther we paffed Woodan, and a collection of vil-
lages, all going by that name, upon the eaft: to the weft,
or right, were fmall iflands, part of the ancient nome of
which I have already fpoken.

Tue ground is all cultivated about this village, to the foot

of the mountains, which is not above four miles; but itis ©

full eight on the weft, all overflowed and fown. The Nile
is here but fhallow, and narrow, not exceeding a quarter
of a mile broad, and three feet deep; owing, I fuppofe, to
the refiftance made by the ifland in the middle of the cur-
rent, and by a bend it makes, thus intercepting the fand
brought down by the ftream.

THE mountains here come down till within two miles of
Suf el Wocdan, for fo the village is called. We were told
there were fome ruins to the weftward of this, but enly rub-
bifh, neither arch nor column ftanding. I fuppofe it is the
Aphroditopolis, or the city of Venus, which we are tole

* Strabo, lib. xvil. p. 936.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 3

for here, and the nome of: vies name, all ‘to the eaftward
of it.

' Yur wind full-frefhening, we paffed by feveral villages
en-each fide, all furrounded with palm-trees, verdant and
pleafant, but conveying an idea of famenefs and want of
variety, fuch as every traveller muft have felt who has {fail-
ed in the placid, muddy, green-banked rivers in‘Holland.

Tue Nile, however, is here fully a mile broad, the water
deep, and the current ftrong. The wind feemed to be exaf-
perated by the refiftance of the ftream, and blew frefh and
fteadily, as indeed ‘it generally:does where the current is
violent.

We pafled Nizelet Embarak, which means the Bleffed
Landing-place. Mr Norden * calls it Giefiret Barrakaed,
which he fays is the watéring-place of the croft. Was this even
the proper name here given it, it fhould be tranflated ‘the
Bleffled Ifland; but, without ac erm anebecth the: oe it
is in vain to keep a regifter of names. !

Tue boatmen, living either in the Delta, Cairo, or one of
‘the great towns in Upper Egypt, and coming conftantly load-
ed with merchandile, or ftrangers from thefe great places,
make fwift paflages by the villages, either down the river
with a rapid current, or up with a ftrong, fair, and fteady
wind: And, when the feafon of the Nile’s inundation is over,
and the wind turns fouthward, they repair all to the Delta,

Vo. I. K pele

ee

‘® Norden’s travels, vol. ii. p. 29.

74 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the-river being no-longer navigable above,.and there they
are employed till the next feafon.

Tury know little, therefore, and care lefs about the names
or inhabitants. of. thefe villages, who have each of them:
barks of their own to carry on their.own trade. There are
fome indeed employed. by the Coptic and Turkifh merchants,
who are better verfed in the names of villages than others ;
but, if they are not, and find: you do not undérftand the’
fanguage, they will never confefs ignorance; they will tell:
you. the firft name that comes. uppermoft, fometimes very’
ridiculous, often very indecent, which we. fee afterwards:
pafs. into. books, and. wonder that fuch. names were. ever:
given to. towns..

Tue reader will obferve this in comparing Mr Norden’s:
yoyage and mine, where he walt feldom fee the fame vil-
lage pafs by the fame name. My Rais, Abou Cufh, when
he did not know a village, fometimes tried this with me;.
But when he faw me going: to write, he ufed then to telk
me the truth, that he did not know the village; but that:
fuch was the cuftom of him, and his-brethren, to people that:
did not underftand the language, efpecially if they were
priefts, meaning Catholic Monks..

We paffed with great velocity Nizefet Embarak, Cubabac,
Nizelet Omar, Racca Kibeer, then Racca Seguier, and came
in fight of Atfia, a large village at fome diftance from the
Nile; all the valley here 1s green, the palm-groves beautiful,
and she Nile deep.

STILE.

‘THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 75

Srircz it is not the profpect that pleafes, for the whole
ground that is fown to the fandy afcent of the mountains,
is but a narrow ftripe of three quarters of a mile broad,.and
the mountains themfelves, which here begin to have a mo-
derate degree of elevation, and which ‘bound this narrow
valley, are white, gritty, fandy, and uneven, and perfe@ly
deftitute ofall manner of verdure.

Ar the fmali village of Racca Seguier there was this
remarkable, that it was thick, furrounded with trees of a
different nature and figure frem palms; what they were
iknow not, I believe they were pomegranate-trees ; Ithought,
that. with my giafs I difcerned fome reddifh fruit upon
them ;.and we had paffed a village .cailed Rhoda, .a name
they give in Egypt to pomegranates ; Saleah is-on the op-
pofite, or eaft-fide of the river. The Nile divides above the
village ; it fell very calm, and here we paffed the night of
the fifteenth.

Our Rais Abou Cufhi begged lcave to go to Comadreedy,
a fmall village on the weft of the Nile, with a few palm-
arees about it; he faid that his wife ‘was there. As I never
heard any thing of this till now, I fancied he was going
to divert himfelf in the manner he had done the night be-
fore he left Cairo; for he had put on his black furtout, or
great coat, his fcarlet turban, and a new fcarlet fhaul, both
of which he faid he had brought, to do me honour in my
voyage. |

{ THANKED him much for his confideration, but afked
him why, as he was a Sherriffe, he did not wear the green
turban of Mahomet? He anfwered, Poh! that was a trick

K 2 put

76 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

put upon ftrangers there were many men who wore green:

turbans, he faid, that were very great rafcals ; but he was.a

Saint, which. was better than a Sherriffe, and. was known as
fuch all over the world, whatever colour of a turban he
wore, or whether a turban at all, and he only dreffed for
my honour ;. would be back. early inthe morning, and.
bring me a fair wind. $y |

“ Hassan; faid I, I fancy it is much more likelythat you
“ bring me fome aquavite, if you do not drink,it all.” He
promifed that he would fee and procure fome, for mine
was now at an end. He faid, the Prophet never. forbade
aquavite, only the drinking of wine; and the prohibition
could not be intended for Egypt, for there was no wine in
it. But Bouza, fays he, Bouza I will drink, as long-as I can
walk from ftem to ftern of a veffel, and away he went. I

had indeed no doubt he would keep his refolution of drinks .

ing whether he returned or not,

We kept,as ufual, a very good watch all night, which
paffed without difturbance. Next day, the 17th, was ex
ceedingly hazy in the morning, though it cleared about

ten o'clock. It was, however, fufficient to fhew the falfity |

of the obfervation, of the author, who fays that the Nile*
emits no fogs, and in courfe of the voyage we often faw
other examples of the fallacy of this affertion.

In the afternoon, the people went afhore to {hoot pigeons;
they were very bad, and black, as it was not the feafon of
grain.

* Hero. lib. ii. cap. 19.

THE SOURCE(OF THE/NILE. "7

grain. -Tremained arfanging my journal, when, with fome
furprize, I faw the Howadat Arab»come in, and fit down.
clofe to me; however,.J was not afraid:of any evil inten
tion,. having a-crooked. Knife at myrgirdle, and two piftols
lying by me.

b ae Ss ee How now, friend? ye? a Who eon for
you? He would have kiffed my: ee edielig he Fiarduc, 1am
under your protection: he then pulled out a-rag from with-
in his girdle, and faid:he was.going to Mecca, and-had taken
that with him; that he, was afraid: my boatmen would rob
him, and throw -him into: the Nile, or get fomebody to rob
and murder him’ by the way; and that one of the Moors, |
Haffan’s fervant, had been feeling for his: money the night.
before, when he thought himaafleep, i...

ZI wapbe bim-count his fum,; whichamounted to:74 fequins; .
and a piece of filver, value about half-a-crown, which in
Syria they call Abou Kelb, Father Dog. It is the Dutch :
Lion rampant, which the Arabs, who never-call a thing by ©
its right name, term a dog.—tn fhort, this treafure amounted
to fomething more than three guineas ; and this he defired
me/to keep tillnwe feparated.. Do not;you tell them, faid he;
and I will throw. off my cloaths and girdle, and leave them
ensboard, while I go to fwim, and when, they find I have
nothing upon me they will not hurt me. .

Bur what fecurity; faid I, have you that I do not reb you
of this, and get you thrown into the, Nile fome night? No,
no, fays he, that I know is impoflible. I have never been
able to fleep till I fpoke to you; do with me what you
pleafe, and my money too, only keep me out of the hands

bay of..

78 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of thofe murderers. “ Well, well, faid I, now you have got
rid of your money, you are fafe, and you fhall be my fer-
vant; lye before the door of my dining-room all night,
they dare not hurt a hair of your head while I am alive.”

Tuer Pyramids, which had been on our right hand at dif-
ferent diftances fince we paffed the Saccara, terminated

here in one of a very fingular conftruction. About two’

miles from the Nile, between Suf and Woodan, there is a
Pyramid, which at firft fight appears all of a piece; it is of
unbaked bricks, and perfectly entire; the inhabitants call
at the * Falfe Pyramid. ‘The lower part is a hill exactly
fhaped like a Pyramid for a confiderable height. Upon
this is continued the fuperftructure in proportion till it ter-
minates like a Pyramid above; and, at a diftance, it would
require a good eye to difcern the difference, for the face of
the ftone has a great refemblance to clay, of which the
Pyramids of the Saccara are compofed. |

Hassan Azsov Curri was as good as his word in one re-
fpect ; he came in the night, and had not drunk much fer-
mented liquors; but he could find no fpirits, he faid, and
that, to be fure, was one of the reafons of his return ; I had
fat up a great part of the night waiting.a feafon for obfer-
vation, but it was very cloudy, as all the nights had been
fince we left Cairo.

Tue 18th, about eight o’clock in the morning, we pre-
pared to get on our way; the wind was calm, and fouth.
I afked

* Dagijour.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 79)

Y afked our Rais where his fair wind was which he promi-
fed to bring? He faid, his wife had quarrelled with him all
night, and would not give him time to pray; and therefore,
fays he with a very drolf face, you fhali fee me do:all that
a Saint can do for you on this occafion. I afked him what
that was? He made another droll face; “Why, it is to draw
“ the boat by the rope till the wind ¢uras fair.’ 1 commend-.
ed. very much this wife alternative, and immediately the
veflel began to. move, but very flowly, the wind being ftill
unfavourable.

Own looking into: Mr Norden’s voyage, Iwas ftruck at firft
fight with this paragraph* : “We faw this day abundance of
* camels, but they did not come nearenough for us to {hoot
* them.”—I thought with myfelf, to /boot camels in Egypt
would be very little better than to:/Loctmen, and thiat it. was
very lucky for him the camels did. not come near, if that
was the only thing that prevented him. Upon looking at
the note, I fee it is a {mall miftake of the tranflator +, who
fays, “that in che original it is Chameaux d’eau, water-.
“ camels; bat whether they are a particular {pecies of camels,
“ or a-different kind of animal, he does not know.

Bur:

*Norden’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 17.

#1 cannot here omit to reGtify another {mall miftake of the tranflator,; which involves.
fam: ina difference with this Author which he did’ not-mean.—

Mr Norden, in the French, fays, that the mafter of his veffel being much frightened,
“ avoit perdu la tramentane;” the true meaning of which is, That he had loft his: judgment,
not loft the north wind, as it is trarnflated, which is really nonfenfe.

; Norden’s Travels, vol. i. p. 52;

Zo “TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

‘But this is no fpecies of camel, it is a bird called a Pelid
can, and the proper name in Arabic, is Jimmel el Bahar; the
Camel of:the River. The other bird like.a partridge, which:
Mr Norden’s people fhot, and did not know its name, and
which was better than a pigeon, 1s-called Gooto, very com-
mon in all:the defert parts of Africa, I have drawn theny
of many different colours. That of the Deferts’ of Tripoli,
and Cyrenaicum, is very beautiful ; that of Egypt.is {potted
white like the Guinea-fowl, but upon a brown ground, not
a blue one, as that latter bird is. However, they are all very
bad to eat, but they are not of the fame kind with the par-
tridge. Its legs and feet are all covered with feathers,and
it has but two toes before. . The. Arabs imagine it feeds, on

ftones, but its food is infects. >"

Arrer Comadreedy, the Nile is-again ‘divided by another
fragment of the ifland, and inclines a little to the weftward.
On the eaft 1s the village Sidi Ah el Courani. It has only
two palm-trees ‘belonging to it, and on that account hath
a deferted appearance; but the wheat upon the:banks was
five: inches high, and more advanced than any we had feen.
The mountains on the eaft-fide come down to the banks of
the Nile, are bare, white, and fandy, and there is.cn this fide
no appearance of viliages.

“Tue river here is about a quarter of a mile broad, or
fomething more. It fhould feem it was 'the Angyrorum
Civitas of Ptolemy, but neither night nor day could I get
aninftant for obfervation, on account of thin white clouds,
which confufed (for they fcarce can be dfaid to cover).the
dicavens continually. 5

We

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. Sr

_ We paffed now a convent of cophts, with a fmall planta-
tion of palms. It is a miferable building, with a dome-like
to a faint’s or marabout’s, and ftands quite alone.

Azout four miles from this is the village of Nizelet-el
Arab, confifting of miferable huts. Here begin large planta-
tions of fugar canes, the firft we had yet feen; they were then
loading boats with thefe to carry them to Cairo. I procured
from them as many as I defired. . The canes are about an
inch and a quarter in diameter, they are cut in round pieces
about three. inches long, and, after having been flit, they
are fteeped in a wooden bowl of water. They give a very a-
greeable tafte and flavour to it, and make it the moft re-
frefhirng drink in the world, whilft by imbibing the water,
the canes become more juicy, and lofe a part of their heavy
clammy fweetnefs, which would occafion thirft. I was fur-
prized at finding this plant in fuch.a ftate of perfection fo
far to the northward. We were now fcarcely arrived in
fat. 29°, and nothing could be more beautiful and perfect
than-the.canes were.

‘I APPREHEND they were originally a plant of the old con-
‘tinent, and tranfported to the new, upon its firft difcovery,
becaufe here in Egypt they grow from feed. I do not
know if they do fo in Brazil, but they have been in all times
the produce of Egypt. Whetherthey have been found elfe-
where, I have not had an opportunity of being informed,
but itis time that fome {kilful perfon, verfed in the hiftory of
plants, fhould feparate fome of the capital productions of the
old, and new continent, from the adventitious, before, from
length of time, that which we now know of their hiftory
be loft.

Vor. I. L SUGAR,

82 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

SucAR, tobacco, red podded or Cayenne pepper, cotton,
fome fpecies of Solanum, Indigo, and a multitude of others,.
have not as yet their origin well afcertained.

Prince Henry of Portugal put his difcoveries to immedi-
ate profit, and communicated what he found new in each
part in Europe, Afia, Africa, and America, to where it was.
wanting. It will be foon difficult to afcertain to each quar~

ter of the world the articles that belong to it, and fix up-

on thofe few that are common to all.

Even wheat, the early produce of Egypt, is not a native:
of it. It grows under the Line, within the Tropics, and as
far north and fouth as we know. Severe northern win-
ters feem to be neceflary to it, and it vegetates vigoroufly
in froft and {fnow. But whence it came, and in what fhape,,
is yet left to conjecture.

TuoucH the ftripe of green wheat was continued all
along the Nile, it was interrupted for about half a mile om

each fide of the coptifh convent. Thefe poor wretches.

know, that though they may fow, yet,.from the violence of
the Arabs, they fhall never reap, and therefore leave the:
ground defolate.

On the fide.oppofite to Sment, the {tripe begins again, and.
continues from Sment to Mey-Moom, about two miles, and:
from Mey-Moom to Shenuiah, one mile further. In this:
fmall ftripe, not above a quarter of a mile broad, befides:
wheat, clover is fown, which they call Berfine. I don’t think
it equals what I have feen in England, but it is fown and
cultivated in the fame manner.

IMMEDIATELY

if
ao
aw

Tift SOURCE OF .THE NILE 83

ImMEDIATELY behind this narrow ftripe, the white moun-
tains appear again, fquare and flat on the top like tables.
They feem to be laid upon the furface of the earth, not in-
ferted into it, for the feveral ftrata that are divided lye as
level as it is poffible to place them with a rule; they are of
no confiderable height.

We next paffed Bouth, a village on the weft-fide of the
Nile, two miles fouth of Shenuiah; and, a little further,
Beni Ali, where we fee for a minute the mountains on the
right or weft-fide of the Nile, running ina line nearly fouth,
and very high. About five miles from Boufh is the village
of Maniareifh on the eaft-fide of the river, and here the
mountains on that fide end.

Bousu is about two miles and a quarter from the river.
Beni Ali is a large village, and its neighbour, Zeytoom, {till
jarger, both en the weftern fhore. I fuppofe this lait was part
* of the Heracleotic nome, where * Strabo fays the olive-tree
grew, and no where elfe in Egypt, but we faw no appear-
ance of the great works once faid to have been in that nome.
A little farther fouth is Baiad, where was an engagement
between Huflein Bey, and Ali Bey then in exile, in which the
former was defeated, and the latter reftored to the govern-
ment of Cairo.

From Maniareifh to Beni Suef is two miles and a half,
and oppofite to this the mountains appear again of confider-
able height, about twelve miles diftant. Although Beni Suef

L2 1s

* Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 936.

34 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

is no better built than any other town or.village that we liad
paffed, yet it interefts by its extent; it is the moft confiderable:
place we had yet feen fince our leaving Cairo. It has a cacheff
and a mofque, with three large fleeples, and.is a market+-
town. i

Tue country all around is well cultivated, and feems to;
be of the utmofttfertiiity; the inhabitants are better cloathed, .
and feemingly lefs miferable, and oppreffed, than thofe we:
had left behind in the places nearer Cairo. .

Tue Nile is very fhallow at Beni Suef; and the current:
ftrong. We touched feveral times in the middle of the
ftream, and came to an anchor at Baha, about a quarter of
a mile above Beni Suef, where we. paffed the night.

We were: told to keep good watch here all.:night, that:
there were troops of robbers on the eaft-fide. of the water.
who had lately plundered fome boats, and that the cacheff
either dared not, or would not give:them any afliftance. We,
did indeed keep ftrict watch, but. faw no robbers, and were::
no other way molefted. . |

‘THe 18th we: had fine weather and a: fair-wind. Still’
I thought the villages were beggarly, and the conftant groves.
of palm-trees fo perfectly verdant, did not compenfate for.
the penury of fown land, the narrownefs of the valley, and’
barrennefs of the mountains..

We pafled Manfura, Gadanu, Magaga, Malatiah, and other~
fmall villages, fome of them not confifting of fifteen houfes.
Then folow Gundiah and Kerm on the weft-fide of the

river,

THE SOURGE OF THE NILE, a

viver, with'a large plantation of dates, and four miles fur-.
ther Sharuni. All the way from Boutfh there appeared no
mountains on the weit fide, but large plantations of. dates, _
which extended from Gundiah four miles.. :

From this to Abou Azeeze, frequent plantations of fugar °
canes were now cutting.. All about Kafoor is fandy and
barren on both fides.of the river. . Etfa is on the wett fide of
the Nile, which here again makes an ifland. All the houfes
have now receptacles for pigeons on their tops, from which
is derived a confiderable profit... They are: made of earthen
pots one above the other, occupying the upper ftory, and
giving the walls of the turrets a lighter. and more orna- |
mented appearance. .

We-arrived in the evening at Zohora; about‘a mile fouth
of Etfa. It confifts of three plantations of dates, and is five
miles from Miniet, and there.we pafled the night of the
18th of December. . |

Tuere was nothing remarkable till we came to Barkaras, ,
a: village on the fide of a hill, planted with thick groves of.
palm-trees.

Tue wind was {6 high-we fcarcely could carry our fails ;
the current was ftrong at Shekh Temine, and. the violence
with which we went through the water was terrible.. My
Rais told me we fhould have flackened.our. fails, if it had
net been, that, feeing me curious about the conftruction of
the veffel and her parts, and as we were in no danger of ftrik-
ing, though the water was low, he wanted to fhew me what
fhe could de.-

]THANKED.

86 TRAVELS TO. DISCOVER

1 rHAnkKeED him for his kindnefs. We had all along pre-
ferved ftrict friendfhip. Never fear the banks, faid I; for
I know if there is one in the way, you have nothing to do
but to bid him begone, and he will hurry to one fide direct-
ly. “I have had paffengers, fays he, who would believe
“ that, and more than that, when I told them ; but there is

* no occafion I fee to wafte much time with you in fpeak-

* ing of miracles,”

“ You are miitaken, Rais, Irepled, very much miftaken;

I love to hear modern miracles vaftly, there is always fome
amufement in them.”——* Aboard your Chriftian fhips, fays
he, you always have a prayer at twelve o’clock, and drink
a glafs of brandy; fince you won’t be a Turk like me, I
wifh at leaft you would be a Chriftian.”—Very fairly put,
faid I, Haffan, let your veffel keep her wind if there is no
danger, and I fhall take care to lay in a ftock for the whole
voyage at the firft town in which we can purchafe it,

SC
SC
ce
ra4

66

We paffed by a number of villages on the weftern
fhore, the eaftern feeming to be perfectly unpeopled: Firft,
Fefhné, a confiderable place ; then * Minict, or the ancient
Phylez, a large town which had been fortified towards the
water, at leaft there were fome guns there. A rebel Bey
had taken poffeflion of it, and it was ufual to ftop here, the
river being both narrow and rapid ; but the Rais was in great
{pirits, and refolved to hold his wind, as I had defired a
and nobody made us any fignal from fhore.

We

* Signines the Narrow Paflage, and is meant what P/yle is in Latin.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 87

We came toa village called Rhoda, whence we ifaw the
magnificent ruins ef the ancient city-of Antinous, built by
Adrian. Unluckily I knew nothing of thefe ruins when I
left Cairo, and had taken no pains to provide myfelf with
letters of recommendation as I could eafily have done. Per-
haps I might have found it difficult to avail myfelf of them,
and it was, upon the whole, better as it was.

I asxep the Rais what fort of people they were? He faid
that the town was compofed of very bad Turks, very bad
Moors, and very bad Chriftians; that feveral devils had been
feen among them lately, who had been difcovered by being’
better and quieter than any of the reft.—The Nubian geo-
grapher informs us, that it was from this town Pharaoh
brought his magicians, to compare their powers with thofe
of Mofes; an anecdote worthy that great hiftorian.

I rotp the Rais, that I muft, of neceflity, go.afhore, and
- afked him, if the people of this place had no regard for
faints? that I imagined, if he would put on his red turban
as he did at Comadreedy for my honour, it would then ap-
pear that he was a faint, as he before faid he was known to be
all the world over. He did not feem to be fond of the ex-
pedition ; but hauling in his main-fail, and with his fore-
fail full, ftood:S. S. E. directly under the Ruins. Ina fhort
‘time we arrived at the landing-place; the banks are low,
and we brought up in a kindof bight or fmall bay, where
there was a ftake, fo-our veffel touched very littie, or rather
fwung clear.

Azovu Currrs fon Mahomet, and the Arab, went on fhore,,
ander pretence of buying fome provifion, and to fee how
the:

88 ‘TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the land lay, but after the chara¢ter we had of the inhdbi-
tants, all our fire-arms were brought to the door of the ca-
bin. In the mean time, partly with my naked eye and
partly with my glafs, I obferved the ruins fo attentively as
to be perfectly in love with them.

TueEse columns of the angle of the-portico were ftanding
fronting to the north, part of the tympanum, cornice,
frize, and architrave, all entire, and very much ornamented;
thick trees hid what was béhind. The columns were of
the largeft fize and fluted; the capitals Corinthian, and in
all appearance entire. They were of white Parian marble
probably, but had loft the extreme whitenefs, or polifh, of
the Antinous at Rome, .and were changed to the colour of
the fighting gladiator, or rather to a brighter yellow. I
faw indiftincily, alfo, a triumphal arch, or gate of the town,
in the very fame ftyle ; and fome blocks of very white fhin-
ing ftone, which feemed to be alabafter, but for what em-
ployed I:do not know.

‘No perfon had yet ftirred, when all on a fudden we heard
the noife of Mahomet and the Moor in ftrong d.fpute. Up-
on this the Rais {tripping off his coat, leaped afhore, and
flipped off the rope from the ftake, and another of the
Moors ftuck a ftrong perch or pole into the river, and twitt-
ed the rope round it. We -were in a bight, or calm place,
fo that the ftream did not move the boat.

Mauomet and the Moor came prefently in fight; the
people had’ taken Mahomet’s turban from him, and they
vere apparently on the very worfl terms. Mahomet cried

to us, that the whole town was coming, and getting near

2 the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 8g

the boat, he and the Moor jumped in with great agility.
A number of people was aflembled, and three fhots were
fired at us, very quickly, the one after the other.

Icriep out in Arabic, “Infidels, thieves, and robbers ! come
“on, or we fhall prefently attack you:” upon which Iim-
mediately fired a fhip-blunderbufs with piftol fmall bullets,
but with little elevation, among the buthes, fo as not to
touch them. ‘The three or four men that were neareft fell
flat upon their faces, and flid away among the buthes om

their bellies, like eels, and we faw no more of them.

We now put our veflel into the ftream, filled our fore-
fail, and ftood off, Mahomet crying, Be upon your guard, if
you are men, we are the Sanjack’s foldiers, and will come
for the turban to-night. More we neither heard nor faw.

We were no fooner out of their reach, than our Rais,
filling his pipe, and lookirig very grave, told me to thank
God that I was in the veffel with fuch a man as he was, as
it was owing to that only I efcaped from being murdered
afhore. “ Certainly, faid I, Haffan, under God, the way of
“ efcaping from being murdered on land, is never to go
“ out of the boat, but don’t you think that my blunderbufs
“ was as effectual a mean as your holinefs? Tell me, Maho-
“ met, What did they do to you?” He faid, They had not feen
us come in, but had heard of us ever fince we were at Metra-
henny, and had waited to rob or murder us; that upon
now hearing we were come, they had all ran to their
houfes for their arms, and were coming down, immediate-
ly, to plunder the boat; upon which he and the Moor ran
oif, and being met by thefe three people, and the boy, on

Vou. L M the

90° TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the road, who had nothing in their hands, one of therg
fnatched the turban off. He likewife added, that there were
two parties in the town; one in favour of Ali Bey, the other
friends to a rebel Bey who had taken Muiniet;. that they
had fought, two or three days ago, among themfelves, and
were going to fight again, each of them having called A-
rabs to their affiftance. “Mahomet Bey, fays my Howadat
“ Arab, will come one of thefe days with the foldiers,, «
“and bring our Shekh and people with him, who will
“ burn their houfes, and deftroy their corn, that they will
“ be all ftarved to death next year.”

Hassan and his fon Mahomet were violently exafperated,.
and nothing would ferve them but to go in again near the
fhore, and fire all the guns and blunderbufles among the
people. But, befides that I had no inclination of that kind,
I was very loth to fruftrate the attempts of fome future
traveller, who may add this to the great remains of archi-
tecture we have preferved already.

Ir would be a fine outfet for fome engraver; the elegance’
and importance of the work are certain. From. Cairo the
diftance is but four days pleafant and fafe navigation, and:
in quiet times, protection might, by proper means, be eafily
enough obtained at little expence,

Fr

CHAP,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. gk

GHAP: VY.

Voyage to Upper Egypt continued—Afbmounein, Ruins there—Gawa Ki-
beer Ruins——Mr Norden miftaken—Achmim—Convent of Catholics
—Dendera— Magnificent Ruins—dAdventure with a Saint there.

FEIHE Rais’s curiofity made him attempt to prevail with

me to land at Reremont, three miles and a half off, juft
-a-head of us ; this I underftood was a Coptic Chriftian town,
and many of Shekh Abadé’s people were Chriftians alfo. I
thought them too near to have any thing to do with either
of them. At Reremont there are a great number of Perfian
wheels, to draw the water for the fugar canes, which be-
Jong to Chrifhians. The water thus brought up from the
river runs down to the plantations, below or behind the
town, after being emptied on the banks above ; a proof that
here the defcent from the mountains is not an optic fallacy,
as Dr Shaw fays. : :

We paffed Afhmounein, probably the ancient Latopolis, a
large town, which gives the name to the province, where
there are magnificent ruins of Egyptian architecture ; and
after that we came to Melawé, larger, better built, and bet-
ter inhabited than Afhmounein, the refidence of the Ca-
cheff. Mahomet Aga was there at that time with troops
from Cairo, he had taken Miniet, and, by the friendfhip

M 2 of

52 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of Shekh Hamam, the great Arab, governor of Upper Egypt;,
he kept all the people on that fide of the river in their. alle-
giance to Ali Bey..

I nap feen him at Cairo, and Rifk had {fpoken to him to
do me fervice if he met with me, which he promifed. I

called at Melawé to complain of our treatment at Shekh:

Abadé, and fee if Icould engage him, as he had nothing elfe:
to employ him, to pay a vifit to my friends at that inhofpi:

table place. This I was told he would do upon the flight-.
eft intimation. He, unfortunately, however, happened: to:

be out upon fome party ; but I was lucky in getting an old:
Greek, a fervant of his, who knew I was.a friend, both to,
the Bey and to his Patriarch..

He brought me about a gallon of brandy, and a jar of Ie=-

mons and oranges, preferved in honey; both very agreea
ble. He brought hkewife a lamb, and fome garden-ftuffs.
Among the fweetmeats was fome horfe~ raddifh preferved”
like ginger, which certainly, though it might be whole-.
fome, was the very worft ftuff ever I tafted. I gave a good.
fquare piece of it, well wrapt in honey, to the Rais, who:
coughed and fpit half an hour after, crying he was poi-
foned. |

ITsaw he did not wifh meto flay at Melawé, as he was:
afraid of the Bey’s troops, that they might engage him in
their fervice to carry them down, fo went away with great
good will, happy in the acquifition of the brandy, declaring
he would carry fail as long as the wind held.

Wa

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE ee

We pafied Mollé, a fmall village with a great number of
acacia trees intermixed with the plantations of palms. Thefe ~
occafion a pleafing variety, not only from the difference of
the fhape of the tree, but alfo from the colour and diverfity
of the green.

As the fycamore in Lower Egypt, fo this tree feems to be
the only indigenous one in the Thebaid. It is the Acacia
Vera, or the Spina Egyptiaca, with a round yellow flower.
The male is called the Saiel; from it proceeds the gum ara-
bic, upon incifion with an ax. This gum chiefly comes from
Arabia Petrea, where thefe trees are moft numerous. But it
is the tree of all deferts, from the northmoft part of Arabia,
to the extremity of Ethiopia, and its leaves the only food
for camels travelling in thofe defert parts. This gum is
called Sumach in the weft of Africa, and is a principal arti-
cle of trade on the Senega among the Ialofes..

A LarceE plantation of Dates reaches alldlong the weft
fide, and ends in a village called Mafara. Here the river,
though broad, happened to be very fhallow; and by the
violence with which we went, we ftuck upon a fand bank
fo faft, that it was after fun-fet before we could get off;
we came to an anchor oppofite to Mafara. the night of the
rgth of December..

On the 2zoth, early in the morning, we again fet fail and
pafled two villages, the firft called Welled Behi, the next
Salem, about 2 mile and. a half diftant from. each other om
the weft fide of the Nile. The mountains on the weft fide:
of the valley are about fixteen miles off, in a high even
ridge, running in a direction fouth-eaft; while the moun~-

tains,

os TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

tains on the eaft run in a parellel direction with the river,
and are not three miles diftant. -

We paffed Deirout on the eaft fide, and another called Zo-
hor,in the fame quarter, furrounded with palms; then Siradé
on the eaft fide alfo, where is a wood of the Acacia, which
feems very luxuriant; and, though it was now December,
and the mornings efpecially very cold, the trees were in’
full flower, We paffed Monfalout, a large town on the
weftern fhore. It was once an old Egyptian town, and place
of great trade; it was ruined by the Romans, but re-efta-
blifhed by the Arabs,

Aw Arabian * author fays, that, digging under the foun-
dation of an old Egyptian temple here, they found a croco-
dile made of lead, with hieroglyphics upon it, which they
imagine to be a talifman, to prevent crocodiles from pafling
further, Indeed, as yet, we had not feen any; that animal
delights in heat, and, as the mornings were very cold, he
keeps himfelf to the fouthward. The valley of Egypt here
is about eight miles from mountain to mountain.

We paffed Siout, another large town built with the re-
mains of the ancient city fIfiu. It is fome mules in land,
upon the fide of a large califh, over which there is an an-
cient bridge. This was formerly the ftation of the caravan
for Sennaar. They aflembled at Monfalout and Siout, un-
der the protection of a Bey refiding there. They then pafs-
ed nearly fouth-weft, into the fandy defert of Libya, to El

Wah,

* Meffoudi. t Itin. Anton, p. 14.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. og

Wah, the Oafis Magna of antiquity, and fo into the great
Defert of Selima.

Turee miles beyond Siout, the wind turned direCily
fouth, fo we were obliged to ftay at Tima the reft of the 2oth.
I was wearied with continuing in the boat, and went on
fhore at Tima. It is a {mall town, furrounded like the reft
with groves of palm-trees. Below Tima is Bandini, three
miles on the eaft fide. The Nile is here full of fandy iflands.
Thofe that the inundatiom has firft left are all fown, thefe
are chiefly on the eaft. The others on the weft were barren:
and uncultivated; all of them moftly compofed of fand.

I WALKED into the defert behind the village, and fhot
2 confiderable number of the bird called Gooto, and feveral
hares likewife, fo that I fent one of my fervants loaded to
the boat. I then walked down paft a {mall village called
Nizelet el Himma, and returned by a ftill fmaller one call-
ed Shuka, about a quarter of a mile from Tima. I was ex-
eeedingly fatigued with the heat by the fouth wind *blow-
img, and the deep fand on the fide of the mountain. I was
then beginning my apprenticefhip, whichI fully compleated,

Tue people in thefe villages were in appearance little
jlefs miferable than thofe of the villages we had paffed.
They feemed fhy and furly at firft, but, upon converfation,
became placid enough. I bought fome medals from them
of no value, and my fervants telling them I was a phyfician,
i gave my advice to feveral of the fick. This reconciled

them
saat come premarin eas Ss

* It is called Hamfeen, becaufe it is expeCted to blow all Pentecoft,.

96. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

them perfectly, they brought me frefh water and fome fu-
gar-canes, which they {plit and fteeped in it. If they were
fatisfied, I was very much fo. They told me of a large fcene
of ruins that;was about four miles diftant, and offered to
fend a perfon to conduct me, but I did not accept their of-
fer, as I was to pafs there next day.

Tue 21ft, in the morning, we came to Gawa, where is’

the fecond fcene of ruins of Egyptian architecture, after
leaving Cairo. I immediately went on fhore, and found
a {mall temple of three columns in front, with the capitals
entire, and the columns in feveral feparate pieces. They
feemed by that, and their flight proportions, to be of the
moft modern of that fpecies of building; but the whole
were covered with hieroglyphics, the old ftory over again,
the hawk and the ferpent, the man fitting with the dog’s
head, with the perch, or meafuring-rod ; in one hand, the he-
mifphere and globes with wings, and leaves of the banana-
tree, as is fuppofed, in his other. The temple is filled with
rubbifh and dung of cattle, which the Arabs bring in here
to fhelter them from the heat,

Mr Norpen fays, that thefe are the remains of the ancient
Diofpolis Parva, but, though very loth to differ from him,
and without the leaft defire of criticifing, I cannot here be
of his opinion, For Ptolemy,I think, makes Diofpolis Parva
about lat. 26° 40’, and Gawa is 27° 204, which is by much
too great a difference. Befides, Diofpolis and its nome were
far to the fouthward of Panopolis; but we fhall fhew, by
undoubted evidence, that Gawa is to the northward.

THERE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 97

THERE are two villages of this name oppofite to each
other; the one Gawa Shergieh, which means the Eaftern
Gawa, and this is by much the largeft; the other Gawa
Garbieh. Several authors, not knowing the meaning of thefe
terms, call it Gawa Gebery; a word that has no fignifica-
tion whatever, but Garbieh means the Weftern.

I was very well pleafed to fee here, for the firft time, two
fhepherd dogs lapping up the water from the ftream, then
lying down in it with great feeming leifure and fatisfac-
tion. It refuted the old fable, that the dogs living on the
banks of the Nile run as they drink, for fear of the croco-
dile.

Aut around the villages of Gawa Garbich, and the plan-
tations belonging to them, Mefhta and Raany, with theirs
alfo joining them (that is, all the weft fide of the river) are
cultivated and fown from the very foot of the mountains to
the water’s edge, the grain being thrown upon the mud as
foon as ever the water has left it. The wheat was at this
time about four inches-in length.

We paffed three villages, Shaftour, Commawhaia, and
Zinedi; we anchored off Shaftour, and within fight of Taahta.
Taahta is a large village, and in it are feveral mofques. On
the eaft is a mountain called Jibbel Heredy, from a Turkith
faint, who was turned into a fnake, has lived feveral hun-
dred years, and is to live for ever. As Chriftians, Moors,
and Turks, all faithfully believe in this, the confequence is,
that abundance of nonfenfe is daily writ and told concern-
ing it. Mr Norden difcuffes it at large, and afterwards
gravely tells us, he does not believe it ; in which I certainly

Vou. I. N mutt

: ii |
. ; |

98 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

mutt heartily join him, and recommend tomy readers todd»
the fame, without reading any thing about it. .

On the 22d, at night, we arrived:at Achmim.. I landed):
my quadrant and inftruments, with a view of obferving am.
-eclipfe of the moon; but,. immediately after her -rifing, .
clouds and mift fo effectually covered the whole heavens, |
that it was not even poflible to catch.a flar of any fize paf--
fing the meridian.

Acumim is avery confiderable place. It belonged once
to an Arab prince of that. name, who poffeffed it by a grant:
from the Grand Signior, for a certain revenue to be paid
yearly. That family is now extinct; and another Arab prince, ite
Hamam Shekh of Furfhout, now rents it for his life-time,
from the Grand Signior, with all the country (except Girgé) ;
from Siout to Luxor. .

Tue inhabitants of Achmim are of a-very yellow, un-.
healthy appearance, probably owing to the bad air, oceafion-.
ed by a.very dirty califh that pafles through the town..
There are, likewife, a great many trees, bufhes, and gar--
dens, about the ftagnated water, all which increafe the bad.:
quality of the air..

THERE is here what.is called a.-Hofpice, or Convent of re=-
ligious Francifcans, for the entertainment of the converts,.
or perfecuted Chrifians in Nubia, when they can find them..
This inftirution I fpeak of. at large in the fequel. One of
the lait princes of the houfe of Medicis, all patrons of learn--
ing, propofed to furnifh them with a compleat obfervatory,,
with the, moft perfect and expenfive inftruments; but they

; , refufed..

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. _ -99 |
‘yefufed them, from a fcruple leaft it would give umbrage
to the natives. The fear that it fhould expofé their own ig-
®worance and idienefs, I muft think, entered a little into the
‘confideration.

Tuey received us civilly, and that was juft all. I-+think
Inever knew a number of priefts met together, who differ-
ed fo little in capacity and knowledge, having barely a ro-
tine of {cholaftic difputation, on every other fubject in-
conceivably ignorant. But I wnderftood afterwards, that
they were low men, all Italians; fome of them had been
‘barbers, and fome of them tailors 'at Milan; they affected
to be all Anti-Copernicans, upon {cripture principles, for
they knew no other aftronomy.

Turse priefts lived in great eafe and fafety, were much
“protected and favoured by this Arab prince Hamam; and
their acting as phyficians reconciled them to’ the people.
‘They told me there were about eight hundred catholics in
the town, but I believe the fifth part ofthat number would
never have been found, even fuch catholics as they are.
The reft of them were Cophts, and Moors, but a very few
-of the latter, fo-that the miffionaries live perfe:ly unmo-
defted.

“THERE wasa manufactory of coarfe cotton cloth in the town,
zo confiderable extent; and great quantity of poultry, efteemed
the beft in Egypt, was bred here, and fent down to Cairo. The
reafon is plain, the great export from Achmim is whear; ali
the country about it is fown with that grain, and the crops
are fuperior to any inEgypt. Thirty-two grains pulled from
the ear was equal to forty-nine of the bef{ Barbary wheat

| N'2 gathered

100 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER '

gathered in the fame feafon; a prodigious difproportion, if it

holds throughout. The wheat, however, was not much

more forward in Upper Egypt, than that lower down the

country, or farther northward. It was little more than

four inches high, and fown down to the very edge of the
water.

Tue people here wifely purfuing agriculture, fo as to pro-'

duce wheat in the greateft quantity, have dates only about
their houfes, and a few plantations of fugar cane near
their gardens. As foon as they have reaped their wheat,
they fow for another crop, before the fun has drained the
moifture from the ground. Great plenty of excellent fifth
is caught here at Achmim, particularly a large one called
the Binny, a figure of which I have given in the Appendix.
Ihave feen them about four feet long, and one foot and a
half broad. ;

Tue people feemed to be very peaceable, and well dif-
pofed, but of little curiofity. They expreffed not the leaft
furprife at feeing my large quadrant and telefcopes mount-
ed. We pafied the night in our tent upon the river fide,
without any fort of moleftation, though the men are re-
proached with being very great thieves. But feeing, I fup-
pote, by our lights, that we were awake, they were afraid.

Tee women feldom marry after fixteen; we faw feveral
with child, who they faid were not eleven years old. Yet
F did not obferve that the men were lefs in fize, lefs vigor-

ous and active in body, than in other places. This, one

would not imagine from the appearance thefe young wives
make. They are little better coloured than a corpfe, and

leaok

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE Io!

look older at fixteen, than many Englifh women at fixty, fo
that you are to look for beauty here in childhood only.

AcHMIM appears to be the Panopolis of the ancients, not
only by its latitude, but alfo by an infcription of a very large
triumphal arch, a few hundred yards fouth of the convent.
It is built with marble by the Emperor Nero, and is dedi-
cated in a Greek infcription, nani exo. The columns that
were in its front are broken and thrown away; the arch it-
felf is either funk into the ground, or overturned on the
fide, with little feparation of the feveral pieces. :

Tue 24th of December we left Achmim, and came to the
village Shekh Ali on the weft, two miles and a quarter dif-
-tant. We then paffed Hamdi, about the fame diftance far-
ther fouth ; Aboudarac and Salladi on the eaft; then Salladi
Garbieh, and Salladi Shergieh on the eaft and weft, as the
names import; and a number of villages, almoft oppofite,
on each fide of the river.

Ar three o’clock in the afternoon we arrived at Girgé,
the largeft town we had feen fince we left Cairo ; which,
by the latitude Ptolemy has very rightly placed it in, fhould
be the Diofpolis Parva, and not Gawa, as Mr Norden makes
it. For this we know is the beginning of the Diofpolitan
nome, and is near a remarkable crook of the Nile, as it
fhould be. It is alfo on the weftern fide of the river, as
Diofpolis was, and at a proper diftance from Dendera, the
ancient Tentyra, a mark which cannot be miftaken.

Tue Nile makes a kind of loop here; is very broad, and
the current flrong. We paffed it with a wind at north; but
the

TO2 “TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the waves ran high as in the ocean. All the country, on
‘both fides of the Nile, to Girgé, is but one continued grove
of palm-trees, in which are feveral villages a fmall diftance
from each other, Doulani, Confaed, Deirout, and Berdis, on
the weft fide ; Welled Hallifi, and Beni Haled, on the eaft.

Tue villages have all a very picturefque appearance
among the trees, from the many pigeon-houfes that are on ©
the tops of them. The mountains on the eaft begin to de-—
part from the river, and thofe on the weft to approach near-
er it. It feems to me, that, foon, the greateft part of Egypt
on the eaft fide of the Nile, between Achmim and Cairo, will
be defert; not from the rifing of the ground by the mud,
as is fuppofed, but from the quantity of fand from the -
mountains, which covers the mould or earth feveral feet
-deep. “This 24th of December, at night, we anchored be-.
tween two villages, Beliani and Mobanniny.

‘Next morning, the 25th, impatient to vifit the greateft, .
cand moft magnificent fcene of ruins that are in Upper Egypt,
-we fet out from Beliani, and, about ten o’clock in the fore-
noon, arrived at Dendera. Although we had heard that the
people of this place were the very worft in Egypt, we were
not very apprehenfive. We had two letters from the Bey,
to the two principal men there, commanding them, as they
would anfwer with their lives and fortunes, to have a {pe-
cial care that no mifchief befel us; and likewife a very
prefling letter to Shekh Hamam at Furfhout, in whofe ter-
ritory we were.

I PITCHED my tent by the river fide, juft above our bark,
and fent.a mefiage to the two principal people, firft to the
one,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 10%:

ene, then to the other, defiring them to. fend a proper
perfon, for I had: to deliver to them. the commands of the
Bey. . I did not choofe: to truft thefe letters with our boat--:
man; and Dendera is near half a-miule from the river. The
two men came after fome delay, and brought each of them
a fheep; received the letters; went back with great fpeed,
and, foon after, returned with a horfe and three afles, to
carry me to the ruins..

DenpzERA is a_confidérable town at this day, all covered:
with thick groves of palm-trees, the fame that Juvenal de-
fcribes it to have been in his time. Juvenal himfelf muft
have feen it, at leaft once, in pafling, as he himfelf died in*
a kind of honourable exile. at Syene, whilft in command:
there. .

Terga fuga celeri, prefiantibus omnibus inflant, ,
Qui vicina colunt umbrofe Tentyra palne. .

la Sat.15. v.75.

Tuts. place is governed by a cacheff appoint ted by Shekh :
Hamam. A mile fouth of. the town, are the ruins of two
temples, one of which is fo much buried under ground,
that little of it is to be feen ; but the other, which is by far
the moft magnificent, is entire, and acceflible on every fide.
It is alfo covered with hieroglyphics, both within. and with-
out, all inrelief ; and of every figure, fimple and compound,
that ever has one publifhed, or called an hieroglyphic.

Tue form of the building is an: oblong fquare, the ends
of which are occupied by two large apartments, or vetti-
Bules, fupported by monftrous columns, all covered with

Diz hieroglyphics..

104 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

hieroglyphics likewife. Some are in form of men and
beafts ; fome feem to be the figures of inftruments of facri-
fice, while others, ina fmaller fize, and lefs diftiné form,
feem to be infcriptions in the current hand of hieroglyphics,
of which I fhall fpeak at large afterwards. They are all
finifhed with great care. |

Tue capitals are of one piece, and confift of four huge -
human heads, placed back to back againft one another, with
bat’s ears, and an a a and worfe-executed, fold of
drapery between them. — :

Azsove thefe a large oblong fquare block, ftill larger
than the capitals, with four flat fronts;difpofed like pannels,
that is, with a kind of {quare border round the edges, while
the faces and fronts are filled with hieroglyphics; as are
the walls and cielings of every part of the temple. Between
thefe two apartments in the extremities, there are three
other apartments, refembling the firft, in every refpect, only
that they are 7 eS

Tur whole building is of common white ftone, from
the neighbouring mountains, only thofe two in which have
been funk the pirns for hanging the outer doors, (for it
feems they had doors even in thofe days) are of granite, or
black and blue porphyry.

Tur top of the temple is flat, the fpouts to carry off the
water are monftrous heads of fphinxes; the globes with —
wings, and the c ferpents, with a kind of fhield or breaft-
plate between them, ave here frequently repeated, fuch as
we fee them on the Cazinar sian medals.

; 4 THE

a

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE Toy

“Tue hieroglyphics have been painted over, and great
part of the colouring yet remains upon the ftones, red, in all
ats fhades,efpecially that dark dufky colour called TyrianPur-
ple; yellow, very freth ; {ky-blue (that is, nearthe blue of an
eaftern {ky, feveral fhades lighter than ours; green of dif-
ferent fhades ; thefe are all the colours preferved.

Icoutp difcover no veftiges of common houfes in Den-
dera more than in any other of the great towns in Egypt.
I fuppofe the common houfes of the ancients, in thefe warm
countries, were conftructed of very flight materials, after they
left their caves in the mountains. There was indeed no
need forany other. Not knowing the regularity of the Nile’s
inundation, they never could be perfectly fecure in their
own minds againft the deluge; and this flight ftructure
of private buildings feems to be the reafon fo few ruins
are found in the many cities once built in Egypt. If there
ever were any other buildings, they muft be now covered
avith the white fand from the mountains, for the whole
plain to the foot of thefe is o erflowed, and in culti-
vation. It was no part, either-‘of my plan or inclination, to
enter into the detail of this extraordinary architecture.
Quantity, and folidity, are two principal circumftances that
are feen there, with a vengeance.

Ir ftrikes and impofes on you, at firft fight, but the im-
preffions are like thofe made by the fize of mountains,
which the mind does not retain for any confiderable time
after feeing them; I think, a very ready hand might fpend
fix months, from morning to night, before he could copy
the hieroglyphics in the infide of the temple. They are,
however, in feveral combinations, which have not appeared

Vou. 1 O in

106 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

in the collection of hieroglyphics.. I wonder that, being:
in the neighbourhood, as we are, of Lycopolis, we never fee a.
wolf as an hieroglyphic ;.and nothing, indeed, but what
has fome afhinity to water ; yet the wolf is upon all the med--

als, from which I apprehend that the worfhip of the wolf:

was but a modern fuperftition..

Denver ftands on the edge of a fmall, but fruitful plains:

the’ wheat was thirteen inches high, now at Chriftmas ;.
their harveft is in the end of March:. The valley is not above:
five miles wide, from mountain to mountain. Here we
firft faw the Doom-tree in great profufion growing among.
the palms, from which it fcarcely is diftinguifhable at a dif--
tance. It is the * talma Thebaica Cuciofera. Its ftone is:
like that of a peach. covered with a.black bitter pulp, which:
refembles a walnut over-ripe..

A titTLe before we came to Dendera we. faw. the firft!
crocodile, and afterwards hundreds, lying upon every ifland,.
like large: flocks of cattle, yet the inhabitants of Dendera:
drive their beafts of every kind into the river, and they.
ftand there for hours.. The girls and women too, that come:
to fetch water in jars, ftand up to their knees in the water:
for a confiderable time; and if we guefs by what happens,.
their danger is full as little as their fear, for none of them,,
that ever! heard of, had been bit by accrocodile. However,,
if the Denderites were as keen and expert hunters of Cro-.
codiles, as fome +} hiftorians tell us they were formerly,,
there is furely no part in the Nile where they would have:
better fport than here, immediately before their own city..

| HAVING:

* Theophraft. Hift. Plan. lib, iii. cap. 8—Jib. iv. cap. 2. f Strabo lib. vii. p. 941s.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 107

Havine made fome little acknowledgment to thofe whe
had conducted me through the ruins in great fafety, I re-
turned to the Canja, or rather to my tent, which I placed in
the firft firm ground. I faw, at fome diftance, a well-drefled
man, with a white turban, and yellow fhawl covering it,
and a number of ill-looking people about him. As I
thought this was fome quarrel among the natives, I took
no notice of it, but went to my tent, in order to rectify my
quadrant for obfervation.

As foon as our Rais faw me enter my tent, he came with
expreflions of very great indignation. “ What fignifies it,
faid he, that you are a friend to the Bey, have letters to
every body, and are at the door of Furfhout, if yet here is
‘a man that will take your boat away from you?”

“Sortty, foftiy, I anfwered, Haffan, he may be in the
right. If Ali Bey, Shekh Hamam, or any body want a boat
for public fervice, I muft yield mine. Let us hear.”

SuexuH Hamam and Ali Bey! fays he; why it is a fool, an
idiot, and an afs ; a fellow that goes begging about, and fays
he is a faint; but he is a natural fool, full as much knave
as fool however; he is a thief, I know him to be a thief.”

Ir he is a faint, faid I, Hagi Haflan, as you are another,
known to be fo all the world over, I don’t fee why I fhould
interfere; faint againft faint is a fair battle."——“It is the
Cadi, replies he, and no one elfe.”

“Come away with me, faid J, Haffan, and let us fee this
cadi; if itis the cadi, it is not the fool, it may be the knave.”
2 We

£08 FRAVELS TO DISCOVER

He was fitting upon the ground on a carpet, moving his:

head backwards and forwards, and faying prayers witht
beads in his hand. I had no good opinion of him from hisi

firft appearance, but faid, Salam alicum, boldy; this feemed to; —

offend him, as he looked at me with great contempt, and:
gave me no.anfwer, though he appeared-a little difconcert=
ed by my confidence.

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“Arg you the Ca/, faid he; to whom that boat belongs?”
“ No, Sir, faid I, it belongs to Hagi Haflan.”

“ Do you think, fays-he, I call. Hagi Haffan, whois a Sher-
riffe, Cafr 2”

“THat. depends upon the meafure of your prudence, faid:
I, of which as yet I have no proof that can enable me’ to’
judge or decide.”

“Are you the Chrifian that was at the ruins in the morn=
ing? fays- he.”

“JT was at the ruins in the morning, replied I, and J am-
a Chrifian. Ali Bey calls that denomination of people:
Nazarani, that is the Arabic of Cairo and Conftantinople,,
and I underitand_ no other.”

“Tam, faid he, going teGirgé, and this holy faint is with:
me, and there is no boat but your’s bound that way, for

which reafon I have promifed to take him with me.”

By

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE roo

By this time the fait had got into the boat, and fat for-

ward ; he was an ill-favoured, low, fick-like man, and feem-
ed to be almoft blind.

You fhould not make rafh promifes, faid I to the cadi,
for this one you made you never can perform ; I am not go-
ing to Girgé. Ali Bey, whofe /lave you are, gave me this boat,
but told me, I was not to fhip-either faints or cadies. There
is my boat, go a-board if you dare; and you, Hagi Haflan,
let me fee you lift an oar, or loofe a fail, either for the cadi
er the faint, if I am not with them.

I wENT to my tent, and the Rais followed me. “ Hagi
* Haflan, faid I, there is a proverb in my country, It is bet-
“ ter to flatter fools than to fight them: Cannot you go to
“ the fool, and give him half-a-crown? will he take it, do
“ you think, and abandon his journey to Girgé? after-
“ wards leave me to fettle with the cadi for his voyage thi-
“ ther.” ;

“He will take it with all his heart, he will kifs your hand.
for half-a-crown, fays Haffan.’” :

“Ler him have half-a-crown from me, faid I, and defire
“ him to go about his bufinefs, and intimate that I give him
“ it in charity, at fame time expect compliance with the
“ condition.”

In the interim, a Chriftian Copht came into the tent:

* Sir, faid he, you don’t Know what you are doms; the cadi
y DP) ) 5 3

“ 1s a great man, give him his prefent, and have done with

“Wren

LIO TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

“ WueEN he behaves better, it will be time enough for that,
“ faid I?——If you are a friend of his, advife him to be quiet,
“ before an order comes from Cairo by a Serach, and car-
“ ries him thither. Your countryman Rifk would not give
“ me the advice you do?”

Risk! fays he; Do you know Rifk? Is not that Rifk’s wri-

ting, faid I, fhewing him a letter from the Bey? Wallah!.

(by God) it is, fays he, and away he went without {peaking
a word farther.

Tue faint had taken his half-crown, and had gone away ~

finging, it being now near dark.—The cadi went away, and
the mob difperfed, and we directed a Moor to cry, That all
people fhould, in the night-time, keep away from the tent,
or they would be fired at; a ftone or two were afterwards
thrown, but did not reach us,

I FINISHED my obfervation, and afcertained the latitude
of Dendera, then packed up my inftruments, and fent them
on board.

Mr Norpen feems greatly to have miftaken the pofition
of this town, which, confpicuous and celebrated as it is by
ancient authors, and juftly a principal point of attention to
modern travellers, he does not fo much as defcribe; and, in
his map, he places Dendera twenty or thirty miles to the
fouthward of Badjoura; whereas it is about nine miles to
the northward. For Badjoura is in lat. 26° 3’, and Dendera
is In 26°. 10%

It

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, rre

Ir is a great pity, that he who had a tafte for this very
remarkable kind of architecture, fhould have pafied it, both:
in going up and coming down; as it is, beyond comparifon,,
a place that would have given more fatisfaction than all

Upper Egypt.

Wuite we were ftriking our tent, a:great mob-.came down;,
but without the cadi. As I ordered all my people to take their
arms in their hands, they kept at avery confiderable dif-.
tance; but the fool, or faint, got into the boat.with-a yellow
flag in his hand, and fat down at the foot of the main-matt,
faying, with an idiot fmile, That we fhould fire, for he was
out of the reach of the fhot; fome ftones were thrown, but.
did not reach us..

I orDERED two of my fervants with large brafs fhip-blun—
derbuffes, very bright and glittering, to get upon the top of:
the cabbin.. I then pointed a wide-mouthed Swedifh blun-.
derbufs from one of the windows, and cried out, Have:
a care ;—the next ftone that is thrown I fire my cannon:
amongft you, which will fweep away 300 of you inftantly
from the face of the earth; though I believe there were not:
above two hundred then prefent..

I onperep Hagi Haflan to caft off his cord immediately,
and, as foon as the blunderbufs appeared, away ran every
ene of them, and, before they could colle&t themfelves to
return, our vefiel was in the middle of the ftream. The
wind was fair, though not very frefh, on which we fet both
eur fails, and made great way..

Dis "FHE

pi TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue faint, who had been finging all the time we were
difputing, began now to fhew fome apprehenfions for his
own fafety : He afked Hagi Haflan, if this was the way te
Girgé? and had for anfwer, “Yes, it is the fool’s way to
“’Girge.”

WE carried him about a mile, or more, up the river; then
a convenient landing-place offering, I afked him whether
he got my money, or not, laft night? He faid, he had for
yefterday, but he had got none for to-day.-—-“ Now, the next
thing I have to afk you, faid I, is, Will you go afhore of your
own accord, or will you be thrown into the Nile? He an-
fwered with great confidence, Do you know, that, at my
word, I can fix your boat to the bottom of the Nile, and
make it grow atree there for ever?” “ Aye, fays Hagi Haf-
fan, and make oranges and lemons grow on it lkewife,
can’t you? You area cheat.” “Come, Sirs, faid I, lofe no time,
put him out.” I thought he had been blind and weak;
and the boat was not within three feet of the fhore, when
placing one foot upon the gunnel, he leaped clean upon land.

We flacked our veffel down the ftream a few yards, fill-
ing our fails, and ftretching away. Upon feeing this, our
faint fell into a defperate paflion, curfing, blafpheming, and
ftamping with his feet, at every word crying “Shar Ullah !”
ze. may God fend, and do juftice. Our people began to
taunt and gibe him, afking him if he would have a pipe of
tobacco to warm him, as the morning was very cold; but I
bade them be content. It was curious to fee him, as far as
we could difcern, fometimes fitting down, fometimes jump-~
ing and {kipping about, and waving his flag, then running

3 about

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 113

about a hundred yards, as if it were after us; but always
returning, though at a flower pace.

None of the reft followed. He was indeed apparently the
tool of that rafcal the cadi, and, after his defigns were fruf-
trated, nobody cared what became of him. He was left in
the lurch, as thofe of his character generally are, after ferv-
ing the purpofe of dnaves.

Vot. I. Lig CHAP.

114 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

GC TRAP) Wil

Arrive at Furfbout— Adventure of Friar Chriftopher—Vifit Thebes—

Luxor and Carnac—Large Ruins at Edfu and Efné Proceed on our
Voyage. . .

rE arrived happily at Furfhout that fame forenoon, and
Y went to the convent of Italian Friars, who, like thofe
of Achmim, are of the order of the reformed Francifcans,
of whofe miffion I fhall fpeak at large in the fequel.

We were received more kindly here than at Achmim ;
but Padre Antonio, fuperior of that laft convent, upon which
this of Furfhout alfo depends, following us, our good recep-
tion fuffered afmall abatement. In fhort, the good Friars
would not let us duy meat, becaufe they faid it would be a
jbame and reproach to them ; and they would not give us any,
for fear that fhould be a reproach to them likewife, if it was
told in Europe they ved well.

Arrer fome time I took the liberty of providing for my-
felf, to which they fubmitted with chriftian patience. Yet
thefe convents were founded exprefsly with a view, and
from a neceflity of providing for travellers between Egypt
and Ethiopia, and we were ftrictly intitled to that enter-

tainment,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 115

tainment. Indeed there is very little ufe for this inftitu~
tion in Upper Egypt, as long as rich Arabs are there, much
more charitable and humane to ftranger Chriftians than
the Monks.

FursHouT is in a large and cultivated plain. It is nine
miles over to the foot of the mountains, all fown with
wheat. There are, likewife, plantions of fugar canes. The
town, as they faid, contains above 10,000 people, but I have
no doubt this computation is rather exaggerated.

We waited upon the Shekh Hamam; who was a big,
tall, handfome man; I apprehend not far from fixty. He
was drefled in a large fox-fkin pelifle over the reft of his
cloaths, and had a yellow India fhawl wrapt about his head,
like a turban. He received me with great politenefs and
condefenfion, made me fit down by him, and afked me more .
about Cairo than about Europe.

Tue Rais had told him our adventure with the faint, at
which he laughed very heartily, faying, I was a wife man.
and a man of conduct. To me he only faid, “ they are
bad people at Dendera ;” to which I anfwered, “ there were
very few places in the world in which there were not fome
bad.” He replied, “ Your obfervation is true, but there they
are all bad; reft yourfelves however here, it is a quiet place ;
though ee are full fome even in this pice not quite fo
good as they ought to be.”

Tue Shekh was a man of immenfe riches, and, little by
little, had united in his own perfon, all the feparate diftricts
P2 of

ni6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of Upper Egypt, each of which formerly had its particular-
prince. But his intereft was great at. Conftantinople, where:
he applied directly for what he wanted, infomuch as to give

a jealoufy to the Beys of Cairo. He had in farm from the

Grand Signior almoft the whole country, between Siout and

Syene, or Affouan. I believe this is the Shekh of Upper Egypt, ,
whom Mr Irvine {peaks of fo gratefully... He was betrayed,
and murdered fometime after, by one of the Beys whom he:
had protected in his.own country..

WHILE we were at Furfhout, there happened a very ex-
traordinary phenomenon.. It rained the whole night, and”
till about nine o’clock next morning; and the people be--
gan to be very apprehenfive leaft the whole town fhould be
deftroyed. It is a perfect prodigy to: fee rain. here; and:
the prophets faid it portended a diffolution of government,,
which was juftly verified foon afterwards, and at that time:
indeed. was extremely probable..

FursHour is in lat 26° 3’ 307’; above that, tothe fouth--
ward, on the fame plain, is another large village, belonging:
to Shekh Ifmael, a nephew of Shekh Hamam. It is a large:
town, built with. clay like Furfhout, and furrounded with:
groves of palm trees, and very large plantations of fugar:
canes.. Here they make fugar..

SHekH IsmAEL was a very pleafant and’ agreeable man,
but in bad health, having a violent afthma, and fometimes:
pleuretic complaints, to be removed by bleeding only. He
had given thefe friars a houfe for a convent-in Badjoura 3:
but as they had not yet taken poffeffion of it, he defired me:
ta come and ftay there..

FRIAR

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, ry

FrrAR CurisTOPHER, whom I underftood to have been a
Milanefe barber, was his phyfician, but he had not the fci-
ence of an Englith barber in furgery. He could not bleed,
but with a fort of inftrument refembling that which is ufed
in cupping, only that it had but a fingle lancet ; with this
lie had been lucky enough as yet to efcape laming his
patients. This bleeding inftrument they call the Tabange, or
the Piftol, as they do.the cupping inftrument hkewife. Inever
could help fhuddering at feeing the confidence with which:
this man placed a fmall brafs box upon aH forts of arms, and.
drew the trigger for the point: to go where fortune pleafed..

Suexu IsmazL was very fond of this furgeon, and the-
furgeon of his patron; all would have gone well, had not:
friar Chriftopher aimed likewife at being an Aftronomer. A--
bove all he gioried in being a violent enemy to the Coperni--
ean fyftem, which unluckily he had miftaken for a herefy in:

the church ; and partly from his own flight ideas and ftock:

of knowledge, partly from fome Milanefe almanacs: he had.
got, he attempted, the weather being cloudy, to foretel the:
time when the moon was to change, it being that of the
month Ramadan, when the Mahometans’ lent, or fafting,,
was tc begin..

Ir happened that the Badjoura people, and their Shekh
Hmael, were upon. indifferent terms with Hamam, and his
men of Furfhout, and being defirous.to get a triumph over
their neighbours by the help of their friar Chriftopher, they
continued to eat, drink, and {moke, two days. after the con-
yunction..

THE

a18 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue moon had been feen the fecond night, by a Fakir*,
in the defert, who had fent word to Shekh Hamam, and he
had begun his faft. But Ifmael, aflured by friar Chriftopher
that it was impoffible, had continued eating.

Tue people of Furfhout, meeting their neighbours fing-
ing and dancing, and with pipes of tobacco in their mouths,
all cried out with aftonifhment, and afked, “ Whether they had
“ abjured their religion or not?”—From words they came
to blows; feven or eight were wounded on each fide, luckily
none of them mortally.—Hamam next day came to inquire
at his nephew Shekh Imael, what had been the occafion of
all this, and to confult what was to be done, for the two
villages had declared one another infidels.

I was then with my fervants in Badjoura, in great quiet
and tranquillity, under the protection, and very much in the
confidence of Ifmael; but hearing the hooping, and noife
in the ftreets, I had barricadoed my outer-doors. A high wall
furrounded the houfe and court-yard, and there I kept quiet,
fatisfied with being in perfect fafety.

In the interim, I heard it was a quarrel about the keep-
ing of Ramadan, and, as I had provifions, water, and employ-
ment enough in the houfe, I refolved to flay at home till
they fought it out; being very little interefted which of
them fhould be victorious.---About noon, I was fent for to
Ifmael’s houfe, and found his uncle Hamam with him.

HE

ee

* A poor faint.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 119

HE told me, there were feveral wounded in a quarrel a-
bout the Ramadan, and recommended them to my care.
* About Ramadan, faid I! what, your principal faft! have
“ you not fettled that yet ?”---Without anfwering me as to
this, he afked, “ When does the moon change?” AsI knew
nothing of friar Chriftopher’s operations, I anfwered, in
hours, minutes, and feconds, as I found them in the ephe-
merides. f

“Loox you there, fays Hamam, this is fine work!” and,
directing his difcourfe to me, “ When {hall we fee it?” Sir,
faid I, that is impoflible for me to tell, as it depends on the
ftate of the heavens; but, if the fky is clear, you mutt fee
her to-night ; if you had looked for her, probably you would
have feen her laft night. low in the horizon, thin like a
thread; fhe is now three days old.—-He ftarted at this, then
- told me friar Chriftopher’s operation, and the confequences
of it.

IsmArL was afhamed, curfed him, and threatned revenge.
It was too late to retract, the moon appeared, and {poke for
herfelf; and the unfortunate friar was difgraced, and
banifhed from Badjoura. Luckily the pleuretic ftitch came
again, and I was called to bleed him, which I did with a lan-
cet; but he was fo terrified at.its brightnefs, at the ceremony
of the towel and the bafon, and at my preparation, that it
did not pleafe him, and therefore he was obliged to be
reconciled to Chriftopher-and his tabange.---Badjoura is in
lat. 26° 3/16”; and is fituated on the weftern fhore of the
Nile, as Furfhout is likewite.

WeE

120 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

We left Furfhout the 7th of January 1769, early in the
morning. We had not hired our boat farther than Fur-
fhout ; but the good terms which fubfifted between me and
the faint, my Rais, made an accommodation very eafy to
carry us farther. He now agreed for L.4 to carry us to
Syene and down again; but, if he behaved well, he expe-
ed a trifling premium. ‘ And, if you behave ill, Haflan,
“ faid I, what-do you think you deferve?’-—“ To be hanged,
“ faid he, I.deferve, and defire no better.”

Our wind at firft was but fcant. The Rais faid, that he
thought his boat did not go as it ufed to do, and thar it was
growing into a tree. The wind, however, frefhened up to-
wards noon, and eafed him of his fears. We pafled a large
town called How, on the weft fide of the Nile. About four
o'clock in the afternoon we arrived at El Gourni, a fmall
village, a quarter of a mile diftant from the Nile. It has in
it a temple of old Egyptian architecture. I think that this,
and the two adjoining heaps of ruins, which are at the fame
diftance from the Nile, probably might have been part of
the ancient Thebes.

Suaamy and Taamy are two coloffal ftatues in a fitting
pofture covered with hieroglyphics. The fouthmoft is of
one ftone, and perfectly entire. The northmoft is a good
deal more mutilated. It was probably broken by Cambyfes;
and they have fince endeavoured to repair it. The other
has a very remarkable head-drefs, which can be compared
to nothing but a tye-wig, fuch as worn in the prefent day.
Thefe two, fituated in a very fertile {pot belonging to The-
bes, were apparently the Nilometers of that town, as the
marks which the water has left upon the bafes fufficiently

a fhew.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 121

fhew. The bafes of both of them are bare, and uncovered,
to the bottom of the plinth, or loweft member of their pe-
deftal; fo that there is not the eighth of an inch of the
~ loweft part of them covered with mud, though they ftand
in the middle of a plain, and have ftood there certainly a-
bove 3000 years; fince which time, if the fanciful rife of
the land of Egypt by the Nile had been true, the earth fhould
have been raifed fo as fully to conceal half of them both.

Tuese ftatues are covered with infcriptions of Greek and
Latin; the import of which feems to be, that there were
certain travellers, or particular people, who heard Memnon’s
ftatue utter the found it was faid to do, upon being ftruck
with the rays of the fun.

It may be very reafonably expected, that I fhould here
fay fomething of the building and fall of the firft Thebes ;
but as this would carry me to very early ages, and inter-
rupt for along time my voyage upon the Nile; as this is, be-
fides, connected with the hiftory of feveral nations which I
am about to defcribe, and more proper for the work of an
hiftorian, than the curfory defcriptions of a traveller, I fhall
defer faying any thing upon the fubject, till | come to treat
of it in the firft of thefe characters, and mere efpecially till
I fall fpeak of the origin of the /bepherds, and the calami-
ties brought upor Egypt by that powerful nation, a people
eften mentioned by different writers, but whofe hiftory
hitherto has been but imperfectly known.

Noruine remains of the ancient Thebes but four pro-
digious temples, all of them in appearance more ancient,
but neither fo entire, nor fo magnificent, as thofe of Dendera.

Voz. I. Oo" adhe

122 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tabu are the moft elegant of thefe.
the depth of half-a-foot, in

The temples at Medinet

fome places, but we h
lefs variety, than at De ,

Tue hieroglyphics are of four forts ; firft,fuch as have
only the contour marked, and, as it were, fcratched only
in the ftone. The fecond are hollowed’; and in the
middle of that {pace rifes the figure’ in relief, fo that the
prominent part of the figure is equal to the flat, unwrought
furface of the ftone, and feems to have a frame round it,
defigned to defend the hieroglyphic from mutilation. The
third fort is in relief, or baffo relievo, as it is called, where
the figure is left bare and expofed, without being funk in,
or defended, by any compartment cut round it in the ftone.
The fourth are thofe mentioned in the beginning of this.
defcription, the outlines of the figure being cut very deep
in the fone.

Aux the hieroglyphics, but the laft mentioned, which do
not admit it, are painted red, blue, and green, as at Dendera,
and with no other colours.

NotwiTHstTanpinc all this variety in the manner of ex-
ecuting the hicroglyphical figures, and the prodigious mul-
titude which I have feen in the feveral buildings, I never
could make the number of different hieroglyphics amount
to more than five hundred and fourteen, and of thefe there
were certainly many, which were not really different, but

from the ill execution of the fculpture only appeared fo.

From this I conclude, certainly, that it can be no entire lan-

2 : : :
guage which hieroglyphics are meant to contain, for no
| language

the fame figures, or rather a —

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 123

language could be comprehe ided in five hundred words,
and it is probable that thefe hierogl splrics are not alphabetical,
or fingle letters only; for five 1
t00 largean alphabet. The Chi madeed have many more
letters in ufe, but have no alphabet, but abot is it that under-
Jfiands the Chinefe ?

Tuere are three different characters which, I obferve,
have been in ufe at the fame time in Egypt, Hieroglyphics,
the Mummy charaéter, and the Ethiopic. Thefe are all
three found, as I have feen, on the fame mummy, and there-
fore were certainly ufed at the fame time. The laft only I
believe was a language. ;

‘THE mountains immediately above or behind Thebes, are
hollowed outinto numberlefs caverns, the firft habitations of
the Ethiopian colony which built the city. I imagine they
continued long in thefe habitations, for I do not think the
temples were ever intended but for public and /olemn ufes, and
in none of thefe ancient cities did I ever fee a wall or foun-
dation, or any thing like a private houfe ; all are temples and
tombs, if temples and tombs.in thofe times were not the fame
thing. But veftiges of houfes there are none, whatever * Diodo-
rus Siculus may fay, building with ftone was too expenfive for
individuals ; the houfes probably were all of clay, thatched
with palm branches, as they are at this day. This is one rea-
fon why fo few ruins of the immenfe number of cities we
hear of remain. |

Qa THEBES,

* Diod. Sic, lib a

124 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ner, had a hundred gates. We can
not, however, ener yet the foundation of any wall that
it had; and as for the femen and chariots it is faid to.
have fent out, all the Thebaid fown with wheat would not:
have maintained one-half of them.

THEBES, according to Hop

THEBES, at leaft the ruins of the temples, called‘Medinet:
Tabu, are built in a long ftretch of about a mile broad, moft
parfimonioufly chofen at the fandy- foot of the mountains.
The Horti* Penfiles, or hanging gardens, were furely formed
upon the fides of thefe: hills, then fupplied with water by
mechanical devices. The utmott is done to fpare the plain,
and with great reafon; for all the fpace of ground this
ancient city has had to maintain its myriads of horfes and.
men, is a plain of three quarters of a mile broad, between.
the town and the river, upon which plain the water rifes to
the height of four, and five feet, as. we may judge by the
marks on the ftatues Shaamy and Taamy. All this pretend.
ed populouinefs of ancient Thebes I therefore believe fabu--
lous.

Ir is a circumftance very remarkable, in building the firft
temples, that, where the fide-walls are folid, that is, not fup-
ported by pillars, fome of thefe have their angles and faces
perpendicular, others inclined in a very confiderable angle
to the horizon. Thofe temples, whofe walls are inclined,
you may judge by the many hieroglyphics and ornaments,
are of the firft ages, or the greateft antiquity. From which,
I am difpofed to think, that fingular conftruction was a rem-

nant.

* Plin, lib. 26. cap. 14.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. Kas:

nant of the partiality of the builders for their firft domi-
eiles ; an imitation of the flope*, or inclination of the fides
of mountains, and that this inclination of flat furfaces to
each other in building, gave afterwards the firft idea of Py-.
ramids +. |

A NuMBER of robbers, who much refemble our gypfies,
live in:the holes of the mountains above Thebes. They are
all out-laws, punifhed with death if elfewhere found. Of-
man Bey, an ancient governor of Girgé, unable to fuifer
any longer the diforders committed by thefe people, order-
ed a quantity of dried faggots to be brought together, and,
with his foldiers, took: poffeffion of the face of the moun-
- tain, where the: greateft number of thefe: wretches were:
He then ordered:all. their caves to be filled with this dry
brufhwood, to which he fet fire, fo that moft of them were
deftroyed ; but they have fince recruited their numbers, withe.
eut changing their manners..

Asout half a mile north of El Gourni, are the magnif»
cent, ftupendous fepulchres, of Thebes. The mountains
of the Thebaid come clofe behind the town; they are not
run in upon one another like ridges, but ftand infulated
upon their bafes ; fo that you can: get round each of them.
- A hundred of thefe, it-is faid, are excavated into fepulchral,
and a variety of other apartments..I went.through feven of
them with a great deal of fatigue. Itis a folitary place;

and

* See Norden’s views of the Temples at Efné and Edfu. Vol. ii. plate 6. p. 80-

7 This inclined figure of the fides, is frequently found in the fmall boxes within. the.
mummy-cheits,

126 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and my guides, either from a natural impatience and diftafte
that thefe people have at fuch employments, or, that their
fears of the banditti that live in the caverns of the moun-
tains were real, importuned me to return to the boat, even ©
before I had begun my fearch, or got into the mountains
where are the many large apartments of which I was in
queit.

In the firft one of thefe I entered is the prodigious far-
cophagus, fome fay of Menes, others of Ofimandyas ; pof-
fibly of neither. It is fixteen feet high, ten long, and fix
broad, of one piece of red-granite ; and, as fuch, is, I fuppofe,
the fineft vafe in the world. Its cover 1s ftill upon it, (bro-
ken on one fide,) and it has a figure in relief on the outfide.
It is not probably the tomb of Ofimandyas, becaufe, Diodo-
rus * fays, that it was ten {ftadia from the tomb of the kings;
whereas this is one among them.

Tuere have been fome ornaments at the outer-pillars, or
outer-entry, which have been broken and thrown down.
Thence you defcend through an inclined paflage, I fuppofe,
about twenty feet broad; I {peak only by guefs, for I did
not meafure. The fide-walls, as well as the roof of this pa
fage, are covered with a coat of ftucco, of a finer and more
equal grain, or furface, than any Iever fawin Europe. I
found my black-lead pencil little more worn by it than by
writing upon paper.

Uron
pe NE IS RS ES

* Diod. Sic. libs 1.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 127

Upon the left-hand fide is the crocodile feizing upon the
apis, and plunging him into the water. On the right-hand
is the * {carabeus thebaicus, or the thebaic beetle, the firft
animal that is feen alive after the Nile retires from the land;
and therefore thought to be an emblem of the refurre¢tion.
My own conjecture is, that the apis was the emblem of the
arable land of Egypt; the crocodile, the typhon, or cacode-
mon, the type of an over-abundant Nile; that the fcarabeus
was the land which had been overflowed, and from which
the water had foon retired, and has nothing to do with the
refurrection or immortality, neither of which at that time
were in contemplation. -

Fartuer forward on the right-hand of the entry, the
pannels, or compartments, were {till formed in ftucco, but,
in place of figures in relief, they were painted in frefco.
I dare fay this was the cafe on the left-hand of the paflage,
as well as the right. But the firft difcovery was fo unex-
pected, and I had flattered myfelf that I fhould be fo far
mafter of my own time, as to fee the whole at my leifure,
that I was rivetted, as it were, to the fpot by the firft fight of
thefe paintings, and I could proceed no further.

In one pannel were feveral mufical inftruments ftrowed
upon the ground, chiefly of the hautboy kind, with a mouth-
piece of reed. There were alfo fome fimple pipes or flutes.
With them were feveral jars apparently of potter - ware,

which, having their mouths covered with parchment or
{kin,

* See the figure of this Infe& in Paul Lucas.

¢28 TRAVELS TO DISCOV ER &
fin, and-being braced on their fides like a ‘dota were prow 2 ee

- bably. the inftrument called the sabor, or. *tabret, beat : upome
by the hav? s, coupled in earlieft ages with. the harp, and
preferved ftill in Abyflinia, though its companion, the afte oe 2

fats come i aS

: mehinioned gh on seo 1s nO ery ee pared Eyer:
yf et coe a a

In three following pannels w Were: pained in fice »three

harps, which merited the utmoft attention, whether we cons 5

fider the elegance. of-thefe inftruments in their. form) and — :

the detail of their parts.as they are here clearly exprefled, .

_ er confine ourfelves to the reflection that neceflarily follows, is :

to how great perfection mufic mutt have arrived, before an a4

artift could have produced fo be aerate. an inftrument as
either: of - thefe. 5 6 eee Ape

SFA
A oe
<i
z

he eM

Pe

a Spi Be +,

As the firft seat feemed to be the moft perfect, and Jeaft
{poiled, I immediately attached myfelf to this, and defired
my clerk to take upon him the charge of the fecond.. In
this way, by fketching exactly, and loofely, I hoped to have. ae
made myfelf mafter of all the paintings in that cave, per-
haps to have extended my refearches to others, though, in
the fequel, 1 found myfelf miferably deceived. pop eee 5
My firft dr awing was that of a man playing upon a harp;
he was ftanding, and the inftrument being broad, and flat.
at the bafe, probably for that purpofe, fupported. itfelf eafily,
with a very iittle inclination upon his arm; his head is
clofe fhaved, his eye-brows black, without beard or muf-. .
tach ses.

* Gen. xxxi, 27. Ifa. chap. xxx. ver, 32+

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Famting Ui S 2€400, U7 Wh Tipuleliras J
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London Liublifhid Decl 4 704 by Chobison & 00.

es

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 129

tachoes. He has on him a loofe fhirt, like what they wear at
this day in Nubia (only it is not blue) with loofe flceves,
and arms and neck bare. It feemed to be nid muflin, or
cotton cloth, and long-ways through it is a crimfon ftripe

_ about one-eighth of an inch broad; a proof, if this is Egyp-

tian manufacture, that they underftood at that time how to
dye cotton, crimfon, an art found out in Britain only a very
few years ago. If this is the fabric of India, ftill it proves
the antiquity of the commerce between the two countries,
and the introduction of Indian manufactures into Egypt.

Ir reached down to his ancle; his feet are without fan-
dals ; he feems to be a corpulent man, of about fixty years of
age, and of a complexion rather dark for an Egyptian. To
guefs by the detail of the figure, the painter feems to have >
had the fame degree of merit with a good fign-painter in
Europe, at this day.—-If we allow this harper’s ftature to be
five feet ten inches, then we may compute the harp, in its
extreme length, to be fomething lefs than fix feet and a
half.

‘Tus inftrument is of a much more advantageous form
than the triangular Grecian harp. It has thirteen ftrings,
but wants the forepiece of the frame oppofite to the longeft
firing. The back part is the founding-board, compofed of
four thin pieces of wood, joined together in form of a cone,
that is, growing wider towards the bottom; fo that, ‘as the
length of the ftring increafes, the fquare of the correfpond-
ing {pace in the founding-board, in which the found was te
undulate, always increafes in proportion. The whole prin-
ciples, on which this harp is conftructed, are rational and

Vout. R ingenious,

#30 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ingenious, and. the ornamented parts are executed ip. the 3
wale beft manner,.
¥ ;

Tux bottom and fides of the fr: ame efeem tobe Geeteed. snd
inlaid, probably with ivory, tortoife-fhell, and mother-of-
pearl, the ordinary produce of the neighbouring feas and
deferts. It would be even now impoflible, either to con-
ftruct or to finith a harp of any form with more tafte and —
elegance. “Befides the proportions of its outward form, we
mutt obferve likewife how near it approached to a perfect °
inftrument, for it wanted only two ftrings of having two:
complete’ octaves ; that thefe were purpofely omitted, not
from defect of sailie or {cience, muft appear beyond contra~
diction, when we confider the harp that follows~

fi . HAD no fooner ee ae the hote which I had taken im
hand, than I went to my afliftant, tofee what progrefs he had:
made in the drawing in-which he was engaged. I found,,
to my very great furprife, that this harp differed effentially,,
in form and diftribution of its parts, from the one I had
drawn, without having loft any of its elegance; on the con=
trary, that.it was finithed with-full more attention than
the other. It feemed to be fineered with the fame materials,
ivory and tortoife-fhell, but the ftrings were differently dif-
pofed, the ends of the three longeft, where they joined to:
the founding-board below, were defaced by a hole dug in
the wall. Several of the firings in different parts had been:
{craped as with a knife, for the reft, it was very perfect. It
had eighteen firings. A man, who feemed to be ftill older
than the former, but in habit perfectly the fame, bare-footed,,
clofe fhaved, and of the fame complexion with him, ftood
playing

AEE

LLSSE
SSS

va? 7 2 2 —
oe, - s > , . (
Larting WL OL PEICOL Whe 4 Sipudlehres Gf OSICOCd.

UL

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THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 131

playing with both his hands near the middle of the harp,
in a manner feemingly lefs agitated than in the other.

I went back to my firft harp, verified, and examined my
drawing in all its parts ; it is with great pleafure Inow give
a figure of this fecond harp to the reader, it was miflaid
among a multitude of other papers, at the time when I was
folicited to communicate the former drawing to a gentle-
man then writing the Hiftory of Mufic, whichhe has already
fubmitted to the public; it is very lately and unexpectedly
this laft harp has been found; I am only forry this accident
has deprived the public of Dr Burney’s remarks upon it. I
hope he will yet favour us with them, and therefore abftain
from anticipating his reflections, as I confider this as his pro-
vince ; [never knew any one fo capable of affording the pub-
lic, new, and at the fame time juft lights on this fubject.

Tuere ftill remained a third harp of ten ftrings, its precife
form I do not well remember, for I had feen it but once
when I firft entered the cave, and was now preparing to
eopy that likewife. I do not recollect that there was any
man playing upon this one,I think it was rather refting
upon a wall, with fome kind of drapery upon one end of it,
and was the fmalleft of the three. But Iam not at all fo
certain of particulars concerning this, as to venture any
defcription of it ; what I have faid of the other two may be
abfolutely depended upon.

ILoox upon thefe harps then as the Theban harps in
ufe in the time of Sefoftris, who did not rebuild, but deco-
rate ancient Thebes; I confider them as affording an in-

Riz conteftible

132 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

conteftible proof, were they the only monuments remaining;
that every. art. neceflary to the conftruction, ornament, and

ufe of this. inflrument, was in the higheft perfection, and:
if fo, all the others muft have probably attained to the fame:
degree. ae

We fee in particular the ancients then poffeffed an art
relative to.architecture, that. of hewing the hardeft ftones ©
with the greateft eafe, of which we are at this day utterly
ignorantand incapable... We have no inftrument that could
do. it,no compofition that. could make tools of temper fufs
ficient to cut. bafs reliefs.in.granite or porphyry fo readily ;
and our. ignorance in this is the more completely fhewn, in
that we have all the reafons to believe, the cutting inftru-+
ment with which they did thefe furprifing feats was com-
pofed of brafs ; a metal of which, after a thoufand experi-
ments, no tool has ever been made that could ferve the-
purpofe of a common knife, though we are at the fame:
time certain, it. was of brafs the ancients made their razors.

Turse harps, in my opinion, overturn all the accounts:
hitherto given of the earlieft ftate of mufic and. muficak
inftruments in the eaft; and are altogether in their form;
ernaments, and compafs, an inconteftible proof, ftronger than:
a thowfand Greek quotations, that geometry, drawing, me-
chanics, and mufic, were at the greateft perfection when this.
inftrument was made, and. that the period from which we
date the invention of thefe arts, was only the beginning of
the era of their reftoration. This was the fentiment of Solo- ~
mon,awriter who lived at the time whenthis harp waspainted.
“Is there (fays Solomon) any thing whereof it may be faid,

* See,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 133

“See, this is new! it hath been already of old time which
“was before us*.”

We find, in thefe very. countries, how:a:later calamity, of
the fame public nature, the conqueft of the Saracens, occa-
fioned a fimilar downfal. of: literature, by the burning the
Alexandrian library under the fanatical caliph Omar. We
fee how foon after, they flourifhed, planted by the fame hands .
that before had rooted them out.

Tue effects of a:revolution occafioned, at the period I am:
now {peaking of, by the univerfal inundation of the Shepherd, .
were the deftruction of Thebes, the ruin of architecture,
and the downfal:of aftronomy.in Fgypt. Still a. remnant
was left. in-the colonies and. correfpondents of Thebes,
though fallen.. Ezekiel} celebrates Tyre as being, from her
beginning, famous for. the tabret and harp, and it is pro-
bablv to Tyre the tafte for mufic fled from the contempt and
perfecution of the barbarous Shepherds; who, though:a .
numerous nation, to this day never have yet pofleffled any.
fpecies of mufic, or any kind. of. mufical inftruments capable.
of improvement. . ;

ALTHOUGH it is a curious: fubject for reflection, it fhould
not furprife us to find here the harp, in fuch variety of form.
Qld Thebes,.as we prefently fhall fee, had been deftroyed, |
and was foon after decorated and adorned; but not rebuilt
by Sefoftris.. It was fometime between the reign of Menes,
the firft king of the Thebaid, and the firft general war of

the

* Ecclés. chap. i. ver. 40. + Ezek, chap. xxviii..ver..13.

134 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the Shepherds, that thefe decorations and paintings were
made. This gives it a prodigious antiquity ; but fuppofing
it was a favourite inftrument, confequently well underftood
at the building of Tyre * in the year 1320 before Chrift, and
Sefoftris had lived in the time of Solomon, as Sir Ifaac New-
toni magines; fill there were 320 years fince that inftru-
ment had already attained to great perfection, a fufficient
time to have varied it into every form.

Upon feeing the preparations I was making to proceed
farther in my refearches, my conductors loft all fort of fub-
ordination. They were afraid my intention was to fit in
this cave all night, (as it really was,) and to vifit the others
next morning. With great clamour and marks of difcon-
tent, they dafhed their torches againft the largeft harp, and
made the beft of their way out of the cave, leaving me and
my people in the dark; and all the way as they went, they
made dreadful denunciations of tragical events that were
immediately to follow, upon their departure from the cave.

THERE was no poffibility of doing more. I offered them
money, much beyond the utmoft of their expectations 5
but the fear of the Troglodytes, above Medinet Tabu, had
fallen upon them ; and feeing at laft this was real, I was not
myfelf without apprehenfions, for they were banditti, and
outlaws, and no reparation was to be expected, whatever
they fhould do to hurt us,

VERY

* Nay, prior to this, the harp is mentioned as a common inftrument in Abraham’s time 1370
sears before Chrift, Gen. chap. xxxii. yer. 27.

\

THE SOURCE. OF THE NILE 135

Very much vexed, I mounted my horfe to return to the
boat. The road lay through a very narrow valley, the
fides of which were covered with bare loofe ftones. . I had
no fooner got down to the bottom, than I heard a greal deal.
of loud {peaking on both fides of the valley ; and, in an in-
ftant, a number of large ftones were rolled down upon
me, which, though I heard in motion, I could not fee, on
account of the darknefs; this increafed my terror.

Frnp1ncG, by the impatience of the horfe, that feveral of
thefe ftones had come near him, and that it probably was
the noife of his feet which guided thofe that threw them, I
difmounted, and ordered the Moor to get on horfeback ;
which he did, and in a moment galloped out of danger.
This, if had been wife, I certainly might have done before.
him, but my mind was occupied by the paintings. Never-
thelefs, I was refolved upon revenge before leaving thefe
banditti, and liftened till I heard voices, on the right fide of
the hill. I accordingly levelled my gun as near as poffible,
by the ear, and fired one barrel among them. A moment’s
filence enfued, and then a loud howl, which feemed to have
come from thirty or forty perfons. I took my fervant’s
blunderbufs, and difcharged it where I heard the howl,
and a violent confufion of tongues followed, but no more
ftones. AsI found this was the time to efcape, I kept along
the dark fide of the hill, as expeditioufly as poffible, till I
came to the mouth of the plain, when we reloaded our
firelocks, expecting fome interruption before we reached.

the boat; and then we made the beft of our way to the
river,

Wer

136 TRAVELS TO DSCOVER

‘We found our Rais full of fears for us. He had been
told, that, as foon as day light fhould appear, the whole
Troglodytes were to come down to the river, in order to
plunder and deftroy our boat.

Tuis night expedition at the mountains was but partial,
the general attack was referved for next day. Upon hold-
ing council, we were unanimous in opinion, as indeed we
had been during the whole courfe of this voyage. We
thought, fince our enemy had left us to-night, it would be
our fault if they found us in the morning. Therefore,
without noife, we caft off our rope that faftened us, and let:
eurfelves over to the other fide. About twelve at night a
gentle breeze began to blow, which wafted us up to Luxor,
where there was a governor, for whom I had letters.

From being convinced by the fight of Thebes, which had >
not the appearance of ever having had walls, that the fable
of the hundred gates, mentioned by Homer, was mere in-
vention, I was led to conjecture what could be the origin of
that fable.

Tuat the old inhabitants of Thebes lived in caves in
the mountains, is, I think, without doubt, and that the
hundred mountains I have fpoken of, excavated, and adorn-
ed, were the greateft wonders at that time, feems equally
probable. Now, the name of thefe to this day is Beeban el
Meluke, the ports or gates of the kings, and hence, perhaps,
come the hundred gates of Thebes upon which the Greeks
have dwelt fo much. Homer never faw Thebes, it was de-
molifhed before the days of any profane writer, either in
profe or verfe. What he added to its hiftory muft have been
from imagination.

27 ALL

_ THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 137

Aut that is faid of Thebes, by poets or hiftorians, after
she days of Homer, is meant of Diofpolis ; which was built
by the Greeks long after Thebes was deftroyed, as its name
teftifies; though Diodorus *fays it was built by Bufiris. It
was on the eaft fide of the Nile, whereas ancient Thebes was
on the weft, though both are confidered as one city; and
+ Strabo fays, that the river {runs through the middle of
Thebes, by which he means between old Thebes and Diof-
polis, or Luxor and Medinet Tabu.

Wuite in the boat,I could not help regretting the time
I had fpent in the morning, in looking for the place in the
narrow valley where the mark of the famous golden circle
was vifible, which Norden fays he faw, but I could difcern
no traces of it any where, and indeed it does not follow
that the mark left was that of a circle. This magnificent’
inftrument was probably fixed perpendicular to the horizon
in the plane of the meridian; fo that the appearance of the
place where it ftood, would very probably not partake of
the circular form at all, or any precife {hape whereby to
know it. Befides, as I have before faid, it was not among
thefe tombs or excavated mountains, but ten ftades from
them, fo the veftiges of this famous inftrument § could not
‘be found here. Indeed, being omitted in the lateft edition
-of Norden, it would feem that traveller himfelf was not >
perfectly well affured of its exiftence. ici
Vou. L S We

* Diod. Sic. Bib. lib.i. p. 42. §d. + Strabo, lib.17.p.943. {Nab.ch. 3. ver. 8, & 9.

§ A fimilar inftrument, erected by Eratofthenes at Alexandria, cut of copper, was ufed by
Hipparchus and Ptclemy.—Alm. lib. 1. cap. II. 3. cap, 2,. Wide his remarks on Mr
Greave’s Pyramidographia, p. 134.

1238 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

We were well received by the governor of Luxor, who:
was alfo a believer in judicial aftrology. Having made himr
a {mall prefent, he furnifhed us with provifions, and, among
feveral other articles, fome brown fugar; and as we had
feen limes and lemons in great perfection at Thebes, we
were refolved to refrefh ourfelves with fome punch, in re-
membrance of Old England. But, after what had happen-.
ed the night before, none of our people chofe to run the rifk:
of meeting the Troglodytes. We therefore procured a fer
vant of the governor’s of the town, to mount upon his goat—
fkin filled with wind, and float down the ftream from Luxor’
to El Gournie, to bring us a fupply of thefe, which he foon:
after did.

: He informed us, that the people in the caves had, early:
in the morning, made a defcent upon the town{fmen, with

a view to plunder our boat; that feveral of them had been

wounded the night before, and they threatened to purfue’

us to Syene. The fervant did all he could to frighten them,,
by faying that his mafter’s intention was to pafs over with:

troops, and exterminate them, as Ofman Bey of Girgé had
before done, and we were to affift him with our fire-arms.—
After this we heard no more of them..

Luxor, and Carnac, which is a mile and a quarter below:
it, are by far the largeft and moft magnificent fcenes of ruins:
in Egypt, much more extenfive and ftupendous than thofe:
of Thebes and Dendera put together.

Tuere are two obelifks here of great beauty, and in good.
prefervation, they are lefs than thofe at Rome, but not at

all mutilated. The pavement, which is made to receive
the

?

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 139

the fhadow, is to this day fo horizontal, that it might full
be ufed in obfervation. The top of the obelifk is femicircu-
lar, an experiment, I fuppofe, made at the inftance of the
obferver, by varying the fhape of the point of the obelifk,
to get rid of the penumbra.

Ar Carnac we faw the remains of two vaft rows of
fphinxes, one on the right-hand, the other on the left, (their
heads were moftly broken) and, a little lower, a-number of
termini as it fhould feem. They were compofed of bafaltes,
avith a dog or lion’s head, of Egyptian fculpture. They
ftood in lines likewife, as if to conduct or ferve as an avenue
to fome principal building.

‘Tuey had been covered with earth, till very lately a * Ve-
metian phyfician and antiquary bought one of them at a
very confiderable price, as he faid, for the king of Sardinia.
This has caufed feveral others to be uncovered, though no
purchafer hath yet offered.

Upon the outfide of the walls at Carnac and Luxor there
feems to be an hiftorical engraving inftead of hieroglyphics ;
this we had not met with before. It is a reprefentation of
amen, horfes, chariots, and battles ; fome of the attitudes are
freely and well drawn, they are ridely fcratched upon the
furface of the ftone,as fome of the hieroglyphics at Thebes
are. The weapons the men make ufe of are fhort javelins,
fuch as are common at this day among the inhabitants of

S 2 Egypt,

* Signior Donati.

e-

140 ’ TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Egypt, only they have feathered wings like arrows. There
is alfo diftinguifhed among the reft, the figure of.a man om
horfeback, with a lion fighting furioufly by him, and Dio-
dorus* fays, Ofimandyas was fo reprefented at Thebes. This.
whole compofition merits great.attention..

I nave faid, that Luxor is Diofpolis, and fhould think; that:
that place, and Carnac together, made theJovis Civitas Magna °
of Ptolemy, though there is-g’ difference of the latitude by.
my obfervation compared with his. But as mine was made
on the fouth of Luxor,if his was made onthe north of Car-
nac, the difference will be greatly diminifhed.

Tue 17th we took leave of our friendly Shekh of Luxor,,
and failed with a very fair wind, and-in great fpirits. The
liberality of the Shekh of Luxor had extended as far as ever
to my Rais, whom he engaged to-land. me here upon my
return.--I had procured him confiderable eafe in fome com-
plaints he had; and he faw our departure with as mucly
regret as in other places they commonly did our arrival.

On the eaftern fhore are Hambdé, Mafchergarona, Tot;
Senimi, and Gibeg. Mr Norden feems.to have very much
confufed the places in this neighbourhood, as he puts Er-
ment oppofite to Carnac, and Thebes farther fouth than
Erment, and on the eaft fide of the Nile, whilft he places
Luxor farther fouth than Erment. But Ermentis fourteen
miles farther fouth than Thebes, and Luxor about a quar-

ter

* Diod. Sic. Bib. lib, 1..p+ 45. § co.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE r4r

ter of a mile (as I havealready faid) farther fouth on the Eaft.
fide of the river, whereas Thebes is on the Wett..

He has fixed a village (which he calls * Demegeit) in the
fituation where Thebes ftands, and he calls it Crocodilopolis,
from what authority I know not; but the whole geography
is here exceedingly confufed, and out of its proper pofition.

In the evening we came to an anchor on the eaftern fhore
nearly oppofite to Efné. Some of our people had landed to
fhoot, trufting to a turn of the river. that is here, which
would enable them to keep up with us; but they did noe
arrive till the fun was fetting, loaded with hares, pigeons,
gootos, all’ very bad’ game. I had, on my part, ftaid on
board, and had fhot two geefe, as bad eating as the others;.
but very beautiful in their plumage..

We paffed over to Efmé next morning. It is the ancient
Lhatopolis, and has very great remains, particularly a large
temple, which, though the whole of it is-of the remoteft
antiquity, feems to have been built at different times, or.
rather out of the ruins of different ancient buildings. The
hieroglyphics upon this are very ill executed, and are not
painted. The town is the refidence of an Arab Shekh, and
the inhabitants are a very greedy, bad fort of people; but
as I was dreffed like an Arab, they did not moleft, becaufe
they did not know me..

Tue 18th, we left Efné, and paffed the town of Edfu,
where there is likewife confiderable remains of Egyptian
architecture. It is the Appollinis Civitas Magna.

THE

* Vide Noiden’s map of the Nile.

£42 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue wind failing, we were obliged to ftop in a very poor,
defolate, and dangerous part of the Nile, called Jibbel el Sil-
felly, where a boom, or chain, was drawn acrofs the river,
to hinder, as is fuppofed, the Nubian boats from committing
piratical practices in Egypt lower down the flream. The
ftones on both fides, to which the chain was fixed, are very
vifible ; but I imagine that it was for fifcal rather than for
warlike purpofes, for Syene being garrifoned, there is no «
poflibility of boats pafling from Nubia by that city into
Egypt. There is indeed another purpofe to which it might
be defigned; to prevent war upon the Nile between any
two ftates.

We know from Juvenal*, who lived fome time at Syene,
that there was atribe in that neighbourhood called Ombi,
who had violent contentions with the people of Dendera
about the crocodile ; it is remarkable thefe two parties were
Anthropophagi fo late as Juvenal’s time, yet no hiftorian
{peaks of this extraordinary fa¢t, which cannot be called
in queftion, as he was an eye-witnefs and refided at Syene.

Now thefe two nations who were at war had a-
bove a hundred miles of neutral territory between
them, and therefore they.could never meet except on the
Nile. But either one or the other poflefling this chain,
-could hinder his adverfary from coming nearer him. As
the chain is in the hermonthic nome, as well as the capital,
of the Ombi, I fuppofe this chain to be the barrier of this

laft

#* Juven. Sat. 15. ver. 76,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 143

faft flate, to hinder thofe of Dendera from coming up the
river fo eat them.

Asour noon we paffed Coom Ombo, a round building
like a caftle,where is fuppofed to have been the metropolis of
Ombi, the people laft fpoken of. We then arrived at Daroo*,
a miferable manfion, unconfcious that, fome years after,
we were to be indebted to that paltry village for the man
who was to guide us through the defert, and reftore us to
our native country and our friends.

We next came to Shekh Ammer, the encampment of the
Arabs 7 Ababdé, I fuppofe the fame that Mr Norden calls
Ababuda, who reach from near Coffeir far into the defert.
As I had been acquainted with one of them at Badjoura,
who defired medicines for his father, I promifed to call up-
on him, and fee their effect, when I fhould pafs Shekh Am-
mer, which I now accordingly did ; and by the reception I
met with, I found they did not expect I would ever have
been as good as my word. Indeed they would probably
have been in the right, but as I was about to engage myfelf
in extenfive deferts, and this was a very confiderable nation
in thefe tracts, I thought it was worth my while to put my-
felf under their protection.

SHEKH AMMER is not one, but a collection of villages,
compofed of miferable huts, containing, at this time, about
a thoufand effective men: they poflefs few horfe, and are

moftly

* Idris Welled Hamran, our guide through thegreat defert, dwelt. in this village.
+ The ancient Adei.

144 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

moftly mounted on camels. Thefe were friends to Shekh
Hamam, governor of Upper Egypt for the.time, and confe-
quently to the Turkifh government at Syene, as alfo to the
janiffaries there at Deir and Ibrim. They were the barrier, or
bulwark, againft the prodigious number of Arabs, the Bifha-
reen, and others, depending upon the kingdom of Sennaar.

IzrAuIM, the fon, who had feen me at Furfhout and Bad- .
joura, knew me as foon as I arrived, and, after acquainting
his father, came with about a dozen of naked attendants,
with lances in their hands to efcort me. I was fcarce got
into the door of the tent, before a great dinner was brought
after their cuftom ; and, that being difpatched, it was a thou-
fand times repeated, how little they expected that I would
have thought or inquired about them.

‘We were introduced to their Shekh, who was fick, in a
‘corner of a hut, where he lay upon a carpet, with a cufhion
under his head. This chief of the Ababdé, called Nimmer,
é. €. the Tiger (though his furious qualities were at this time
in great meafure allayed by ficknefs) afked me much about
the ftate of LowerEgypt. I fatisfied him as far as poffible,
but recommended to him to confine his thoughts nearer
home, and not to be over anxious about thefe diftant coun-
tries, as he himfelf feemed, at that time, to be in a declining
ftate.of health.

NIMMER was aman about fixty years of age, exceedingly
tormented with the gravel, which was more extraordinary
as he dwelt near the Nile; for it is, univerfally, the difeafe

2 * with
* The Bifhareen are the Arabs who live in the frontier between the two nations. They are
the nominal fubjects of Sennaar, but, in fact, indifcreet banditti, at leaft as to ftrangers,

THE'SOURCE OF THE NILE tas

~)

with thofe who ufe water from draw-wells, as in the defert.
But he told me, that; for the firft. twenty-feven years of his
life, he never had feen the Nile, unlefs upon fome plunder-
ing party; that he had been conftantly at war with the people
of the cultivated part of Egypt, and: reduced them. ofteh to
the ftate of ftarving; but now that he was old,a friend to
Shekh Hamam; and was refident near the Nile, he drank of
its water, and was little better, for he was already a martyr
to the difeafe. I had fent him foap pills from Badjoura,
which had done‘him a great deal of good, and now gave
him lime-water, and promifed him, on my return, to fhew
his people how to make it.

A very friendly converfation enfued, in which was repeat-
ed often, how little they expected I would have vifited them!
As this implied two things; the firft, that I paid no regard
to my promife when given; the other, that I did not efteem
them of confequence enough to give myfelf the trouble,
I thought it right to clear myfelf from thefe fufpicions.

“ Suexu Nrmner, faid I, this frequent repetition that you
“thought I would not keep my word is grievous tome. lam
“ a Chriftian, and have lived now many years among you
“ Arabs. Why did you imagine that I would not keep my
“ word, fince it is a principle among all the Arabs I have
“iived with, inviolably to keep theirs ? When your fon Ibra-
“him came to me at Badjoura, and told me the pain that
“ you) was in, night and day, fear of God, and defire to do
“good, even to them I had never feen, made me give you
“ thofe medicines that have eafed you. After this proof of
“my humanity, what was there extraordinary in my com-
“ing to fee you in the way? I knew you not before ; but

You, L op <a,

146 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

“ my religion teaches me to. do good to all men, even to:
“enemies, without reward, or without confidering whether
“ 1 ever fhould fee-them.again.”

“ Now, after the drugs I fent you: by Ibrahim, tell me,,.
“and tell me truly, upon the faith of an Arab, would your:
“ people,.if they met me in the deert, do me any wrong,,

“more than wow, as I have-eat and drank with you: to-day?” ~ -

Tue old man Nimmer; on this rofe from: his carpet, and:
fat upright, a. more ghaftly and more: horrid. figure I ne-
ver faw. “ No, faid he, Shekh, curfed be. thofe. men of my;
people, or others, that ever fhalk lift up: their hand-againft
you, either inthe Defer? or the Tel/, i.e. the part. of Egypt which:
is cultivated: As long as you are in this country,,or between:
this and Coffeir, my fon fhali ferve you: with:heart and.hand;.
one night of pain that your medicines freed.me from, would:

not be repaid, if I was to follow yow on. foot to:'Meffir, that:

1s Cairo.”

I THEN thought it a preper time: to enter into:conver=-
fation about penetrating into Abyflinia that way,.and theyr
difcuffed it among themfelves in a very friendly, and. at:
the fame time in a very fagacious and fenfible manner..

“We could carry you to: E/ Haimer, (which I underftood!
co be a well in the defert, and which: I afterwards was:
much better acquainted. with to my forrow.): We could
conduct you: fo far, fays old. Nimmer, under God, without:
fear of harm, all that country was Chriftian once, and we:

Chriftians:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 147
Chriftians like yourfelf*. The Saracens having nothing in
their power there, we could carry you fafely toSuakem, but
‘the Bifhary are men not to be trufted, and we could go no
farther than to land you among them, and they would put
‘you to death, and laugh at you all the time they were tor-
menting yout. Now, if you want to vifit Abyflinia, go
by Coffeir and Jidda, there you ‘Cbrifians command the courn-
try.”

“I rorp him, lapprehended, the Kewnouf:, about the fecond
‘cataract, above Ibrim, were bad people. He faid the Ken-
noufs were, he believed, bad enough in their hearts, but
they were wretched flaves, and fervants, had no power in
their hands, would not wrong any body that was with his
people; if they did, he would extirpate them in a day.”

*«T rorp him,1 was fatisfied of the truth of what was faid,
and afked him the beft way to Cofleir. He faid, the beft
‘way for me to go, was from Kenné, or Cuft, and that he
was, Carrying a quantity of wheat from Upper Egypt, while
Shekh Hamam was fending another cargo from his country,
both which would be delivered at Coffeir, and loaded there
for Jidda.” |

“ Axx that is right, Shekh, faid I, but fuppofe your people
meet us ‘in the defert, in going to Coffeir, or otherwife, how
fhould we fare in that cafe? Should we fight?” “I have

T 2. told

* They were Shepherds Indigenz, not Arabs. é
A Qui Ludit in Hofpite fso—Was a charaéter long ago given to the Moors.
Horace Ons,

148 - TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

told you Shekh already, fays he, Curfed be the man who
lifts his hand againft you, or even does not defend and be-
friend you, to his own lofs, were it Ibrahim my own cute

I ruen told him I was bound to Coffeir, aoaline if I
found myfelf in any difficulty, I hoped, upon applying to
his people, they would protect me, and that he would give
them the word, that I was yagoube, a phyfician, feeking no
harm, but doing good ; bound by a vow, for a certain time,
to wander through deferts, from fear of God, and that they.
fhould not have it in their power to do me harm.

Tue old man muttered fomething to his fons in a diale&
I did not then underftand ; it was that of the Shepherds of
Suakem. As that was the fir word he fpoke, which 1 did
not comprehend, I took no notice, but mixed fome lime-
water in a large Venetian bottle that was given me when
at Cairo full of Zgueur, and which would hold about four
quarts; and a little after I had done this the whole hut was —

filled with people.

THERE were friefs and monks of their religion, and the
heads of families, fo that the houfe could not contain
half of them. The great people among “them came;
and, after joining hands, repeated a kind of * prayer,
of about two minutes long, by which they declared
themfelves, and their children, accurfed, if ever they
lifted their hands againft me in the Ze/, or Field in the
defert, or on the river; or,in cafe that I, or mine fhould fly

‘to

4
* This kind of oath was in ufe among the Arabs, or Shepherds, early as the time of Abraham,
Gen. XXl. 22, 23. XXVi. 28, —

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 149

to them for refuge, if they did not protect us at the rifk of
their lives, their, families, and their fortunes, or, as they
emphatically exprefled it, to the death of the laft male child
among them.

Miamecana and advice being given on my part, faith
and protection pledged on theirs, two bufhels of wheat
and feven fheep were carried down to the boat, nor could
we decline their kindnefs, as refufing a prefentin that coun-
try (however it is underftood in ours ») is juft as great an ae
front, as coming into the prefence of a fuperior without a
prefent at all. :

I rotp them, however, that I was going up among Turks
who were ol/iged to maintain me, the confequence there-
fore will be, to fave theirown, that they will take your
fheep, and make my dinner of them; you and I are Arabs,
and know what -Zurks are. They all muttered curfes between
their teeth at the name of Turk, and we agreed they fhould
keep the fheep till | came back, provided they fhould be
then at liberty to add as many more. ~

Tuts was all underftood between us, and we parted
perfectly content with oneanother. But our Rais was very
far from being fatisfied, having heard fomething of the
feven fheep ; and as we were to be next day at Syene, where
he knew we were to get meat enough, he reckoned that
they would have been his property. To ftifle all caufe of
difcontent, however, I told him. he was to take no notice of
my vifit to Shekh Ammer, and that I would make him a-

mends when I returned,
CHAP.

Zz0 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER |

CHAP. VIL.

Arrives at Syene—Goes to fee the Catarath—Remarkable Tombs—the

fituation of Syene—The Aga propofes a Vifit to Deir and Tritt Tbe
Author returns to Kenné.

W T® failed on the 20th, with the wind favouring us, till

about an hour before fun-rife, and about nine o’clock
came to an anchor on the fouth end of the palm groves,
and north end of the town of Syene, nearly oppofite to an
ifland in which there is a {mall handfome Egyptian temple,
pretty entire. It is the temple of * Cuuphis, where formerly
was the Nilometer.

ADJOINING to the palm trees was a very good comfort-
‘able houfe, belonging to Huffein Schourbatchie, the man
that ufed to be fent from that place to Cairo, to receive the
pay of the janiffaries in garrifon at Syene, upon whom too I
had credit for a very {mall fum.

Tue reafons of a credit in fuch a place are three: Firft,
in cafe of ficknefs, or purchafe of any antiquities: Secondly,
that you give the people an idea (a very ufeful one) that
you carry no money about with you: Thirdly, that your

money

* Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 944.

THE SOURCE.OF THE NILE, 5%

money changes its value, and is not even current beyond
Einé.

HussEINn was not at home, but was gone fomewhere up~
on bufinefs, but I had hopes to find him in the courfe of the
day. MHofpitality is never refufed, in thefe countries, upon
the flighteft pretence. Having therefore letters to him, and
hearing his houfe was empty, we fent our people and bag-
Sage to it.

I was not well arrived before a janiflary came, in Ion = Tur-
kifh cloaths, without arms, and a white wand in his hand, to:
tell me that Syene was a garrifon town, and that the Aga
was at the eaftle ready to give me audience.

I rerurnep him for anfwer, that I was:very fenfible it was
my firft duty, asa ftranger,to wait upon the Aga in a garrifoned’
town of which he had tlre command, but, being bearer of
the Grand Signior’s Firman, having letters from the Bey of
€airo, and from the Port of Janiffaries to him in particular, and,,
at prefent being indifpofed and fatigued, I hoped he would.’
indulge me till the arrival of my landlord; in which in-
terim I fhould take a little reft, change my cloaths, and be
more in the fituation in which I would with to pay my re-
{pects to him. |

I RECEIVED immediately an anfwer by two janiflaries, who:
tmififted to fee me, and were accordingly introduced while
E was lying down to reft. They faid that Mahomet Aga had:
neceived my meflage, that the reafon of fending to me was:

not

152 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

not either to: hurry or difturb me; but the earlier to know
in what he could be of fervice to me; that he had a particular
fetter from the Bey of Cairo, in confequence of which, he had
difpatched orders to receive me at Efné, but as I had not
waited on the Cacheff there, he had not been apprifed.

ArreR giving coffee to thefe very civil meflengers, and
taking two hours reft, our landlord the Schourbatchie ar-
rived; and, about four o’clock in the afternoon, we went to
the Aga.

Tue fort is built of clay, with fome fmall guns mounted
on it; it is of ftrength fufficient to keep people of the coun-
try in awe. .

I rounp the Aga fitting in a {mall kioofk, or clofet, upon
a ftone-bench covered with carpets. As I was in no fear of.
him, I was refolved to walk according to my privileges ;
and, as the meaneft Turk would do before the greateft man
in England, I fat down upon a cufhion below him, after
laying my hand on my breaft, and faying in an audible voice,
with great marks of refpect, however, Salam alicum! to which
he anfwered, without any of the ufual difficulty, Alicum falam!
Peace be between us is the falutation ; There is peace between us is
the return, }

Arrer fitting down about two minutes, I again got up, and
flood in the middle of the room before him, faying, Iam bear-
er of a hatéfherriffe, or royal mandate, to you, MahometAga! |
and took the firman out of my bofom, and prefented it to-
him. Upon this he ftood upright, and all the reft of the
people, before fitting with him likewife; he bowed his head

(es upon.

THE SOURCE OF THENILE 153

upon the carpet, then put the firman to his forehead, open-
ed it, and pretended to read it; but he knew well the con-
tents, and I believe, befides, he could neither read nor write
any language. I then gave him the other letters from Cairo,
which he ordered his fecretary to read in his ear.

Att this ceremony being finifhed, he called for a pipe,
and coffee. I refufed the firft, as never ufing it; but I drank
a dith of coffee, and told him, that I was bearer of a confiden-
tial mefage from Ali Bey of Cairo, and wifhed to deliver it to
him without witneffes, whenever he pleafed.. The room
was accordingly cleared without delay, excepting his fecre-
tary, who was alfo going away, when I pulled him back by
the cloaths, faying, “ Stay, if you pleafe, we fhall need you
* to write the anfwer.” We were no fooner left alone, than
I told the Aga, that, being a ftranger, and not knowing the
difpofition of his people, or what footing they were on to-
gether, and being defired to addrefs myfelf only to him by
the Bey, and our mutual friends at Cairo, I wifhed to put it
in his power (as he pleafed or not) to have witnefles of de-
livering- the fmall prefent | had: brought him from Cairo.
The Aga feemed very fenfible of this delicacy; and particu-
larly defired me to take no notice to my landlord, the Schour-
Datchie, of any thing I had brought him.

_. Ati this being over, anda confidence eftablifhed with govern-
ment, | fent his prefent by his own fervant that night, under
pretence of defiring horfes to: go to the cataract next day.
The meflage was returned, that the horfes were to be ready
by fix o'clock next morning. On the arft, the Aga fent me
his own horfe, with mules and afles for my fervants, to go
to the cataract, |

Vou. I. U | WE

154 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

We pafied out at the fouth gate of the town, into the firft’.
fmall fandy plain: A-verylittie to-our left, there are a num-..
ber.of tomb-ftones with infcriptions in the Cufic character,
which travellers erroneoutfly have called unknown language,
and letters, although it was the only letter and language.
known to Mahomet, and the motft learned of his fect in the:
fir ages..

Tur Cufic characters feem to be all written in: capitals;
which one might learn to: read much more eafily than the:
modern Arabic, and they more refemble: the Samaritan.
We read there---Abdullah el Hejazi el Anfari---Mahomet Ab-.
del Shems el Taiefy el Anfari.. The firft of thefe, Abdullaly-
el Hejazi, is Abdullah born in Arabia Petrea. The other is,
Mahomet the flave of the fun, born in Taief. Now, both of-
thefe are called 4n/fari, which many writers, upon Arabian:
hiftory, think, means, born in Medina; becaute, when Maho-.
met fled from Mecca, the night of the hegira, the people of.
Medina received him willingly, and thenceforward got the-
name of * Anfari, or Helpers. But'this honourable name»
was extended afterwards to all thofe who fought under Ma-.
homet in his wars, and after, even to thofe who had been:
born in his lifetime...

Tuese of whofe tombs we are now fpeaking, were of the
army of Haled Ibn el Waalid, whom Mahomet named, Saif-
Ullah, the‘ Sword of God, and who, in the califat of Omar,
took and deftroyed Syene, after lofing-great part of hisarmy:

before.

* This word, improperly ufed and fpelled by M. de Volney, has nothing to do witha
thefe Anfaris.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 455

before it. It was afterwards rebuilt by the Shepherds of Beja,
then Chriftians, and again taken in the time of Salidan, and,
with the reft of Egypt, ever fice hath belonged to Cairo. It
was conquered by, or rather furrendered to, Selim Emperor
of the Turks, in 1526, who planted two advanced pofts (Deir
and Ibrim) beyond the cataract in-Nubia, with fmall garri-
fons of janifflaries likewife, where they continue to this day.

Tuer pay is iffued from Cairo; fometimes they mafry
each others daughters, rarely marry the women of the couns
try, and the fon, or nephew, or neareft relation of each des
ceafed, fucceeds as janiffary in room of his father. They
have loft their native language, and have indeed nothing of
the Turk in them, but a propenfity to violence, rapine, and
ainjuftice ; to which they have joined the perfidy of the Arab,
which, as I have faid, they fometimes inherit from their
mother. An Aga commands thefe troops in the caftle. They
have about two hundred horfemen armed with firelocks
with which, by the help of the Ababdé, encamped at Shekh
Ammer, they keep the Bifhareen, and all thefe numerous
tribes of Arabs, that inhabit the Defert of Sennaar, in toler-
able order.

Tue inhabitants, merchants, and common people of the
town, are commanded by a cacheff. There is ncither but-
ter nor milk at Syene (the latter comes from Lower Egypt)
the fame may be faid of fowls. Dates do not ripen at Syene,
thofe that are fold at Cairo come from Ibrim and Dongola.
There are good fifh in the Nile, and they are eafily caught,
efpecially at the cataract, or in broken water ; there are only
two kinds of large ones which I have happened to fee, the

2 binny

156 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

binny and the boulti. The binny I have deferibed 1 in its ing
per peat

ArTer paffing the tomb-ftones without the gate, we come:
to a plain about five miles long, bordered on the left by
a hill of no confiderable height, and fandy like the plain,
upon which are feen fome ruins; more modern than thofe
Egyptian buildings we have defcribed. They feem indeed:
to be a mixture of all kinds and ages..

Tue diftance from the gate of the town to Termiffi, or
Marada, the fmall villages on the cataract, is exactly fix:
Englifh miles. After the defcription already given of this.
cataract in fome authors, a traveller has reafon to be fur.
prifed, when arrived on its banks, to find that veffels fail:
up the cataract, and confequently the fall cannot be fo vio
lent as to rear people of their hearing *..

THE bed of the river, occupied by the water, was not:
then half a mile broad. It is divided intoa number of fmall.
channels, by large blocks of granite, from thirty to forty
feet high. The current, confined for a long courfe between.
the rocky mountains of Nubia, tries to expand itfelf with:
great violence. Finding, in every part before it, -oppofition:
from the rocks of granite, and forced back by thefe, it meets
the oppofite currents. The chafing of the water againft
thefe huge obftacles, the meeting of the contrary currents
one with another, creates fuch a violent ebullition, and:

makes.

* Cicero de Somnio Scipronis,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 7

makes fuch a noife and difturbed. appearance, that it fills

-the mind with confufion-rather than with terror..

We faw the miferable Kennoufs (who inhabit the
banks of the river up into Nubia, to above the feeond
cataract) to procure their daily food, lying behind rocks,
with lines in their: hands, and catching fifth; they did not
feem to be either dexterous or fuccefsful in the {port..
They are not black, but of the darkeft brown; are not
woolly-headed, but have hair. They are f{mall, light, agile
people, and feem to be more than: half-ftarved. I made a
fign that F wanted to fpeak with one of them, but feeing
me furrounded with a number of horfe and fire-arms, they
did not choofe to truft themfelves. Ileft my people behind
with my firelock, and went alone to fee if could engage’
them in a converfation.. At firft they walked off; finding:
Lperfifted in following them, they ran at full fpeed, and:
hid themfelves among the rocks.. |

Puiny* fays, that, in-his time; the city of Syene was fitu-.
ated fo directly under the tropic of Cancer, that there was:
a well, into which the fun fhone fo perpendicular, that it:
was enlightened by its rays down to the bottom. Strabo +
had faid the fame. The ignorance, or negligence, in the
Geodefique meafure in this obfervation, is extraordinary ;
Egypt had been meafureéd yearly, from early.ages, and the
diftance between Syene and Alexandria fhould have. been
known to an ell. From this inaccuracy, § do very much
fufpect the other meafure Eratofthenes is faid to have made,
by which he fixed the fun’s parallax at 10 feconds and a

Pee biay; half;

* Pliny, lib. ii, cap. 73. t Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 944...

138 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

-half, was not really made by him, but was fome old Chal-
daic, or Egyptian obfervation, made by more inftructed aftro-
nomers which he had fallen upon. :

Tue Arabs callit Affouan, which they fay fignifies enlight-
ened; in allufion,I fuppofe, to the circumftance of the well,
enlightened within by the fun’s being ftationary over it in
June; inthe language of Beja its name fignifies a circle, or.
portion ofa circle.

SyENE, among other things, is famous Yor the firft attempt
made by Greek aftronomers to afcertain the meafure of the
circumference of the earth. Eratofthenes, born at Cyrene a-
bout 276 years before Chrift, was invited from Athens to A-
lexandria by Ptolemy Evergetes, who made him keeper of:
the Royal Library in that city. In this expéfiment two po-
fitions were affumed, that Alexandria and Syene were ex-
actly 5000 ftades diftant from each other, and that they were
precifely under the fame meridian. Again, it was verified by
the experiment of the well, that, in the fummer folftice at
mid-day, when the fun was in the tropic of Cancer, in its
greateft northern declination, the well* at that inftant was
totally and equally illuminated ; and that no ftyle, or gno-
mon, erected on a perfect plane, did caft, or project, any
manner of fhadow for 150 ftades round, from which it was
juftly concluded, that the fun, on that-day, was fo exactly
vertical to Syene, that the center of its difk immediately cor-
refponded to the center of the bottom of the well. Thefe
preliminaries being fixed, Eratofthenes fet about his obfer-
vation thus:— —

ON

* Strabo, lib. il. p. 133.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. roy:

On the day of the fummer folftice;.at the moment the:
fun was.flationary in the meridian of Syene, he placed a ftyle
perpendicularly in the bottom. of a half-concave fphere,.
which be expofed in open-air to the fun at Alexandria.. Now,
if that ftyle had caft no fhade at Alexandria, it would have
been precifely in the fame circumflance with a ftyle in the
well in Syene;. and the reafom of its not cafting the fhade
would have been, that the fun was directly vertical to it.
But he found), on the contrary, this ftyle at Alexandria did

eaft afhadow ; and by meafuring the diftance of the top of:

this fhadow from the foot of. the ftyle, he found, that, when.
the fun cait. no fhadow at Syene, by being in the zenith, at:
Alexandria-he projected a fhadow; which. fhewed he was.
diftant from the vertical point, or zenith, 7+°—7° 12/, which:
was sth of the circumference of the whole heavens, or of:
a- great circle.. as |

Tuis being fettled, the conclifion was, that Alexandria
and Syene mutt be diftant from each other by the soth part:
of the circumference of the whole earth..

Now 5000 ftades was the diftance already affumed be
tween. Alexandria and. the well of Syene; and al! that was
tobe done was to repeat sooo-ftades fifty times, or multiply
sooo ftades by 50, and the anfwer was. 250,000 ftades, which’
was the total of the earth’s.circumference.. This, admitting?
the French contents.of the. Egyptian ftadium to be juft, will
amount to 11,403 leagues for the circumference of the earth:
fought; and as our prefent account fixes it to be gooo,
the error will be 2403 leagues in excefs, or more.than one-
fourth of the whole fum required..

Tus

160 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tus obfervation furely therefore is not worth record-
ing, unlefs to fhew the infufficiency or imperfection of the
method; it cannot deferve the encomiums * that have been
beftowed upon it, if juftice has been done to Eratofthenes’
geodefique meafures, which I do not, by any manner of
means, warrant to be the cafe, becaufe the meafure of
his arch of the meridian feems to have been conducted
with a much greater degree of fuccefs and precifion than
that of his bafe.

On the 22d, 23d, and 24th of January, being at Syene, in a
houfe immediately eaft of the fmall ifland in the Nile (where
the temple of Cnuphis is {till ftanding, very little injured, and
which +Strabo, who was himfelf there, fays was in the an-
cient town, and near the well built for the obfervation of
the folftice) with a three-foot brafs quadrant, made by Lang-
lois, and defcribed by t Monfieur de la Lande, by a mean of
three obfervations of the fun in the meridian, I concluded
the latitude of Syene to be 24° 0’ 45” north.

Anp, as the latitude of Alexandria, by a medium of many
obfervations made by the French academicians, and more
recently by Mr Niebuhr and myfelf, is beyond poffibility
of contradiction 31° 117 33% the arch of the meridian con-
tained between Syene and Alexandria, muft be 7° 10748”, or
1/12” lefs than Eratofthenes made it. And this is a wonder-
ful precifion, if we confider the imperfection of his inftru-
ment, in the probable fhortne({s of his radius, and difficulty

| (almoft
« * Speétacle de la Nature.
f Strabo, lib.17.p.944. 4} L’hiftoire d’aftronomie, de M. de la Lande, vol. i, lib. 2.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. (161

(almoft infurmountable) in diftinguifhing the divifion of
the penumbra.

THERE Certainly is one error very apparent, in meafuring
the bafe betwixt Syene and Alexandria ; that is, they were
not (as fuppofed) under the fame meridian; for though, to
my very great concern afterwards, I had no opportunity of
fixing the longitude at this firft vifit to Syene, as I had done
the latitude, yet on my return, in the year 1772, from an
eclipfe of the firft fatellite of Jupiter, I found its longitude to
be 33° 30’; and the longitude of Alexandria, being 30° 16/7”
there is 3° 14’ that Syene is to the eaftward of the merid'
of Alexandria, or fo far from their being under the fame
meridian as fuppofed,

Ir is impoffible to fix the time of the building of Syene ;
upon the moft critical examination of its hieroglyphics and
proportions, I {hould imagine it to have been founded fome
time after Thebes, but before Dendera, Luxor, or Carnac.

Ir would be no lefs curious to know, whether the well,
which Eratofthenes made ufe of for one of the terms of the
geodefique bafe, and his arch of the meridian, between
Alexandria and Syene, was coeval with the building of that
city, or whether it was made for the experiment. I fhould
be inclined to think the former was the cafe; and the pla.
cing this city firft, then the well under the tropic, were with
a view of afcertaining the length of the folar year. In fhort,
this point, fo material to be fettled, was the conftant object
of attention of the firft aftronomers, and this was the ufe of
the dial of Ofimandyas ; this inquiry was the occafion of the
number of obelifks raifed in every ancient city in Egypt.

mac, 1. Xx We

162 TRAVELS TO)DISCOVER:

We cannot miflake this, if we: obferve how anxioufly they
haye varied the gure of the top, or point of, each obelitk;.
fometimes it is a very fharp one; fometimes a portion of;
a circle, to try to get rid of the great impediment that’ pers
plexed them, the penumbra.

Tue projection of the pavements, conftantly to the north-.
ward, fo diligently levelled, and made into exact. planes by
large flabs of granite, moft artificially joined, have been’ fo
fubftantially fecured, that they might ferve for the obferva-.
tion to this day ; and it is probable, the pofition of this city
and the well were coeval, the refult. of intention, and both.
the works of thefe firft aftronomers, immediately after the
building of Thebes. If this was the cafe, we may conclude,.
that the fact of the fun illuminating the bettom of the well:
in Eratofthenes’s time was a fuppofed one, from the uniform:
tradition, that once it had been fo, the periodical change-
of the quantity of the angle, made by the equator and
ecliptic, not being then known, and therefore that the
quantity of the-celeftial arch, comprehended between Alex-.
andria and Syene, might be as erroneous from ancther~
caute, as the bafe had been by afluming a wrong diftance:
on the earth, in place of one exactly meafured..

THERE is at Axum an obelifk erected by Ptolemy Everge:..
tes, the very prince who was patron to Eratofthenes, with--
out hieroglyphics, directly facing the fouth, with its top:
firft cut into a narrow neck, then fpread out like a fan in:
a femicircular form, with a pavement curioutly levelled to:
receive the fhade, and make the feparation of the true fha--
dow from the penumbra as diftinct as poffible. .

Tuts:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ~— 163

Turis was probably intended for verifying the experi¢
ment of Eratofthenes with a larger radius, for, by this

obelitk, we muft nét imagine Ptolemy intended to obferve

the obliquity of the ecliptic at Axum. Though it was
true, that Axum, by its fituation, was a very proper place, the
fun paffing over that city and obelifk twice a-year, yet it
was equally true, that, from another circumftance, which
he might have been acquainted with, at lefs expence of time
than building the obelifk would have coft him, that he
himfelf could not make any ufe of the fun’s being twice
vertical to Axum ; for. the fun is vertical at Axum about the
asth of April; and again about the 2oth of Auguft; and, at
both thefe feafons, the heaven is fo overcaft with clouds;
and the rain fo continual, efpecially at mid-day, that it
would be a wonder indeed, if Ptolemy had once feen the fun
during the months he ftaid there.

THovucu Syene, by its fituation fhould be healthy, the
general complaint is a weaknefs and forenefs in the eyes;
and this not a temporary one only, but generally ending in
blindnefs of one, or both eyes ; you fcarce ever fee a perfon
in the ftreet that fees with both eyes. They fay it is owing
to the hot wind from the defert; and this I apprehend to
be true, by the violent forenefs and inflammation we were
troubled with in our return home, through the great Detert,
to Syene.

We had now finifhed every thing we had to do at Syene,
and prepared to deicend the Nile. After having been quier,
and well ufed fo long, we did not expec any altercation at
parting; we thought we had contented every body, and we
were perfectly content with them. But, unluckily for us,

A. 2 | our

164 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

our landlord, the Schourbatchie, upon whom I had my cre~

dit, and who had diftinguifhed himfelf by being very fer-
viceable and obliging to us, happened to be the froprietor of
a boat, for which, at that time, he had “tle employment;

nothing would fatisfy him but my hiring that boat, in-

ftead of returning in that which brought us up.

Tuis could by no means be done, without breaking faith 3

with our Rais, Abou Cufh, which I was refolved not to do
on any account whatever, as the man had behaved honeftly

and well in every refpect. The janiffaries took the part of
their brother againft the ftranger, and threatened to cut

Abou Cuffi to pieces, and throw him to the crocodiles.

On the other part, he was very far from being terrified.
He told them roundly, that he was a fervant of Ali Bey,

that, if they attempted to take his fare from him, their pay

fhould be flopped at Cairo, till they furrendered the guilty
perfon to do him jutftice. He laughed moft unaffectedly at
the notion of cutting him to pieces ; and declared, that, if he
was to complain of the ufage he met when he went down to.
Lower Egypt, there would not be a janiflary from Syene
who would not be in much greater danger of crocodiles:
than he. 448

I wenT in the evening to the Aga,and complained of my
landlord’s behaviour. I told him pofitively, but with great
fhew of refpect, I would rather go down the Nile upon a:
raft, than fet my foot in any other boat but the one that
brought me up. I begged him to be cautious how he pro-
ceeded, as it would be my fry, and not dis, that would go

to

\

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 105

to the Bey. This grave and refolute appearance had the
effect. The Schourbatchie was fent for, and reprimanded,
as were all thofe that fided with him; while privately, to
calm all animofities againft my Rais, I promifed him a piece
of green cloth, which was his wifh; and fo heartily were
we reconciled, that, the next day, he made his fervants help
Abou Cuffi to put our baggage on board the boat.

Tue Aga hinted to me, in converfation, that he wondered
at my departure, as he heard my intention was to go to Ibrim
and Deir. Itold him, thofe garrifons had a bad name; that
a Danifh. gentleman, fome years ago, going up thither, with
orders from the government of Cairo, was plundered, and
very nearly affaffinated, by Ibrahim, Cacheff of Deir. He
looked furprifed, fhook his head, and feemed not to give me
credit; but I perfifted, in the terms of Mr Norden’s * Narra-
tive; and told him, the brother of the Aga of Syene was
along with him at the time: “ Will any perfon, {aid he, tell
me, that a man who is in my hands once a month, who has
not an ounce of bread but what I furnifh him from this
garrifon, and whofe pay would be ftopt (as your Rais truly
faid) on the firft complaint tranfmitted to Cairo, could af-
faffinate a man with Ali Bey’s orders, and my brother along
with him ? Why, what do you think he is ?I fhall fend a fer-
vant to the Cacheff of Deir to-morrow, who fhall bring him
down. by the beard, if he refufes tocome willingly.” I faid,
“ Then times were very much changed for the better ; it was
not always fo, there was not always at Cairo a fovereign

like

* Vide Mr Norden’s Voyage up the Nile.

166 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

like Ali Bey, nor at Syene a man of his prudence, and capa-
‘city in commanding; but having no bufinefs at Deir
and Ibrim, I fhould not rifk finding them in another hu-
mour, exercifing other powers ‘than thofe he allowed them
to have.”

Tue 26th we embarked at the north end of the town, in
the very fpot where I again took boat above three years
afterwards. We now no longer enjoyed the advantage of
sour prodigious main-fail; not only our yards were lowered,
but our maits were taken out; and we floated down the
current, making the figure of a wreck. The current, pufh-
ing againft one of our fides, the wind directly contrary,
preffing us on the other, we went down broad fide foremof ;
but fo flteadily, as fcarce to be fenfible the veffel was in mo-
tion.

In the evening I ftopt at Shekh Ammer, and faw my pa-
tient Nimmer, Shekh of the Ababdé. I found him greatly
better, and as thankful as ever ; I renewed my preferiptions,
and he his offers of fervice. 3

Iwas vifited, however, with a pretty fmart degree of
fever by hunting crocodiles on the Nile as I went down,
without any poilibility of getting near them.

On the 31ft of January we arrived at Negadé, the
fourth fettlementof the Francifcan friars in Upper Egypt,for
the pretended miflion of Ethiopia. I found it to be in lat.
25° 53’ 30% Itis a {mall neat village, covered with palm-
trees, and moftly inhabited by Cophts, none of whom the
friars have yet converted, nor ever will, unlefs by fmali

penfions,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 167

penfions, which they give to the pooreit of them, to be des-
eoy-ducks-to the reft..

Opposite to Negadé, on the other fide of the river about
three miles, is Cus, a. large town, the Appollonis Civitas Par-
va of the ancients.. There are no-antiquities at this place ;
but the caravan, which was to carry the corn for Mecca,
acrofs the defert to Coffeir, was to affemble there.- I found:
they were not near ready; and that the Arabs Atouni had.
threatened they would be in their way, and would not fuf-
fer them to pafs, at any rate, and that the guard command-
ed to efcort them. acrofs the defert, would come from Fur--
fhout, and therefore I fhould have early warning,,

Ir was the 2d of February I returned to: Badjoura, and
took up my quarters. in the houfe formerly affigned me,
greatly to the joy of Shekh Ifmacl, who, though he was.
in the main reconciled to his friend, friar Chriftopher,,
had not yet forgot the wounding of the five men by his-
mifcalculating ramadan ;- and was not without fears that:
the fame inadvertence might, fome day or other, be fatal to:

hin, in his pleurify and afthma, or, what is ftiil more like--

ly, by the operation of the tabange..

As I was now about to launch into that part of mty ex--
pedition, in. which I was-to have no further intercoufe with
Europel fet myfelf to work to examine all my: obfervations,
and put my journal in fuch forwardnefs. by. explanations,
where needful, that the labours and pains I had hitherto
been at, might not betotally loft to the public, if I fhould
perifh in. the journey I had undertaken, which, every day,,.

2: ' from:

168 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

from all information I could procure, appeared to be more
and more defperate. _

Havine finifhed thefe, at leaft fo far as to make them
intelligible to others, I conveyed them to my friends Mefirs
Julian and Rofa at Cairo, to remain in their cuftody till I
fhould return, or news come that I was otherwife difpofed
of,

i CHAP.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 169

CHAP. VIL

Whe Author fets out from Kenné—Croffes the Defert of the Thebaid—Vix
_Jfits the Marble Mountains—Arrives at Coffeir, on the Red Seam
Tranfaétions there.

= was Thurfday, the 16th ef February 1769, we heard the

caravan was ready to fet out from Kenné, the Cene Empo-
rium of antiquity. From Kenné our road was firft Eaft, for
half an hour, to the foot of the hills, which here bound the
cultivated land; then S. E. when, at 11 o’clock in the fore-
noon, we paffed a very dirty fmall village called Sheraffa.
All the way from Kenné, clofe on our left, were defert hills,
on which not the leaft verdure grew, but a few plants of a
large fpecies ef Solanum, called Burrumbuc.

Ar half paft two we came to a well, called Bir Ambar, the
well of {pices, and a dirty village of the fame name, belong-
ing to the Azaizy, a poor inconfiderable tribe of Arabs.
They live by letting out their cattle for hire to the caravans
that go to Cofleir, and attending themfeives, when nece‘lary.
It got its name, I fuppofe, from its having formerly been a
fiation of the caravans from the Red Sea, loaded with this
kind of merchandife from India. The houfes of the Azaizy
are of a very particular conftruction, if they can be called

Vout. L ee. houtfes.

170 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

houfes. They are all made of potter-clay, in one piece,
in fhape of a bee-hive; the largeft is not above ten feet high,
and the greateft diameter fix.

THERE are no vefltiges here of any canal, mentioned to
have been cut between the Nile and the Red Sea. The
cultivated land here is not above half a mile in extent from
the river, but the inundation of the Nile reaches much
higher, nor has it left behind it any appearance of foil.
After pafling Bir Ambar, we pitched our tent about four
o'clock at Gabba*, a fhort mile from Cuft, on the borders of
the defert—here we paffed the night.

On the 17th, at eight o'clock in the morning, having
mounted my fervants all on horfeback, and taken the charge
of our own camels, (for there was a confufion in our cara-
van not to be defcribed, and our guards we knew were but
a fet of thieves) we advanced {lowly into the defert. There
were about two hundred men on horfeback, armed with
firelocks; all of them lions, if you believed their word or
appearance ; but we were credibly informed, that fifty of
the Arabs, at firft fight, would have made thefe heroes fly
without any bloodfhed.

I waD not gone two miles before I was joined by the
Howadat Arab, whom I had brought with me in the boat
from Cairo. He offered me his fervice with great profef-
fions of gratitude, and told me, that he hoped I would again
take charge of his money, as I had before done from Cairo.

It

* Tt is mo town, but fome fand and a few buthes, fo called.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 171

It was now for the firft time he told me his name, which
was Mahomet Abdel Gin, “the Slave of the Devil, or the :
“ Spirit.” There is a large tribe of that name, many of which
come to Cairo from the kingdom of Sennaar ; but he had
been born among the Howadat, oppofite to Metrahenny,
where I found him.

Our road was all the way in an open plain, bounded by
hillocks of fand, and fine gravel, perfectly hard, and not
perceptibly above the level of the plain country of Egypt.
About twelve miles diftant there is a ridge of mountains of
no confiderable height, perhaps the moft barren in the world.
Between thefe our road lay through plains, never three miles
broad, but without trees, fhrubs, or herbs. There are not
even the traces of any living creature, neither ferpent nor
lizard, antelope nor oftrich, the ufual inhabitants of the
moft dreary deferts. There is no fort of water on the fur-
face, brackifh or fweet. Even the birds feem to avoid the
place as peftilential, not having feen one of any kind fo
much as flying over. The fun was burning hot, and, upon
rubbing two fticks together, in half a minute they both took
fire, and flamed ; a mark how near the country was redu-
ced to a general conflagration !

Ar half paft three, we pitched our tent near fome draw-
wells, which, upon tafting, we found bitterer than foot.
We had, indeed, other water carried by the camels in fkins.
This well-water had only one needful quality, it was cold,
and therefore very comfortable for refrefhing us outwardly,
This unpleafant ftation is called Legeta; here we were ob.
liged to pafs the night, and all next day, to wait the arriva]

X12 Of

272 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

f the caravans of Cus, Efné, and part of. thofe of Kenn&,
and Ebanout.

Wuite at the wells of Legeta, my Arab, Abdel Gin, came-
to me with his money, which had inereafed now. to nine--
teen fequins and a half. “What! faid I, Mahomet; are
you never fafe among your countrymen, neither: by fea.
nor land?’ “Qh, no, replied Mahomet ;. the. differerice,.
when we were on board the boat, was, we had three thieves.
only; but, when afembled here, we-fhall. have above three:
thoufand.---But I have an advice to give you.”---“ And my-
ears,” faid I, “Mahomet, are always. open to advice, efpe-—
cially in ftrange countries.”---Thefe people,’ continued
Mahomet, “are:all afraid of the Atouni Arabs ; and, when:
attacked,. they will run away,.and_ leave you in the hands.
of thefe Atouni, who will carry off your baggage. There-
fore, as you have nothing to do with their corn, do not kill.
any of the Atouni if they come, for that will be a bad affair,
but go afide, and let me manage. I.will anfwer with my
life, though all the caravan fhould be ftripped ftark-naked,
and you loaded with gold, not one article belonging to you:
fhall be touched.” I queftioned him.very particularly a--
bout this intimation, as it was an affair of much confe-.
quence, and I was fo well fatisfied, that I refolved to. con-.
form ftrictly to it.

In the evening came twenty Turks from Caramania,,
which is that part cf. Afia Minor immediately on the fide of.
the Mediterranean oppofite to the coaft of Egypt; all of them.
neatly and cleanly dreffed like Turks, all-on camels, armed:
with fwords, a pair of piftols at their girdle, and a fhort neat:
gun;, their arms were in very good order, with their flints.

. and.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 173

and ammunition ftowed in cartridge-boxes, in a very foldier-
like manner. A few of thefe {poke Arabic, and my Greek
fervant, Michael, interpreted for the reft. Having been in-
formed, that the large tent belonged to an Englifhman, they
eame into it without ceremony. They told me, that they
were a number of neighbours and companions, who had fet
out together to go to Mecca, to the Hadje; and not knowing
the language, or cuftoms of the people, they had been but
indifferently ufed fince they landed at Alexandria, particu-
larly fomewhere (as I guefled) about Achmim ; that one of
the Owam, or fwimming thieves, had been on board of them
in the night, and had carried off a {mall portmanteau with
about 200 fequins in gold; that, though a complaint had
been made to the Bey of Girgé, yet no fatisfaction had been:
obtained; and that now they had heard an Englifhman was
here, whom they reckoned their countryman, they had come
to propofe, that we fhould make a common caufe to defend.
each other againft all enemies.—What they meaned by coun.
éryman was this :-— .

Tuere is in Afia Minor, fomewhere between Anatolia:
and Caramania, a diflrict which they call Caz Dagli, cor-
ruptly Caz Dangili, and this the Turks believe was the
country from which the Englifh firft drew their origin ;
and on this account they never fail to claim kindred with.
the Englith wherever they meet, efpecially if they ftand in
need of their afiifiance..

‘I rotp-them the arrangement I had taken with the A-
rab. Af firft, they thought it was too much confidence to:
pizce in. him, but J convinced them, that it was greatly di-
minithing our rifk, and, let the worft come.to the worft,.

Ve. 1. ¥: lL was:

174 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I was well fatisfied that, armed as we were, on foot, we were -
more than fufficient to beat the Atouni, after they had de-
feated the clownifh caravan of Egypt, from whofe courage
we certainly had nothing to expect.

I cannot conceal the fecret pleafure I had in finding the
character of my country {o firmly eftablifhed among na-
tions fo diftant, enemies to our religion, and flrangers to
our government. Turks from Mount Taurus, and Arabs
_ from the defert of Libya, thought themfelves unfafe among
their own countrymen, but trufted their lives and their lit-
tle fortunes implicitly to the direction and word of an Eng-
lifhman whom they had never before feen.

Turse Turks feemed to be above the middling rank of
people; each of them had his little cloak. bag very neatly
packed up; and they gave me to underftand that there
was money in it. Thefe they placed in my fervants tent,
and chained them all together, round the middle pillar of
it; for it was eafy to fee the Arabs of the caravan had
thofe packages in view, from the firft moment of the Turk’s
arrival.

We ftaid all the 18th at Legeta, waiting for the junction
of the caravans, and departed the soth at fix o’clock in the
morning. Our journey, all that day, was through a plain,
never lefs than a mile broad, and never broader than three;
the hills, on our right and left, were higher than the for-
mer, and of a brownifh calcined colour, like the ftones on
the fides of Mount Vefuvius, but wichout any herb or tree:
upon them. ;

2 AT

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 175

Ar half paft ten, we paffled a mountain of green and red
marble, and at twelve we entered a plain called Hamra,
_ where we firft obferved the fand red, with a purple caft, of
the colour of porphyry, and this is the fignification of Ham-
ra, the name of the valley. Idifmounted here, to examine of
what the rocks were compofed ; and found, with the great-
eft pleafure, that here began the quarries of porphyry, with-
out the mixture of any other ftone; but it was imperfect,
brittle, and foft. Ihad not been engaged in this purfuit an
hour, before we were alarmed with a report that the A-
touni had attacked the rear of the caravan; we were at the
head of it. The Turks and my fervants were all drawn
together, at the foot of the mountain, and pofted as advan-
tageoufly as poffible. But it foon appeared that they
were fome thieves only, who had attempted to fteal fome
loads of corn from camels that were weak, or fallen lame,
perhaps in intelligence with thofe of our own caravans,

Aut the reft of the afternoon, we faw mountains of a
perfectly purple colour, all of them porphyry ;. nor has
Ptolemy + much erred in the pofition of them. About four
o'clock, we pitched our tent at a place called Main el Mafa-
rek. Thecolour of the valley El Hamra continued to this
ftation ; and it was very fingular to obferve, that the ants, or
pifmires, the only living creatures I had yet obferved, were
all of a beautiful red colour like the fand.

Tue 20th, at fix oclock in the morning, we left Main el
Mafarek,,

t Ptol- Almag. lib. 4. Geograph. pag. 104,

146 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Mafarek, and, at ten, came to the mouth of the defiles” At
eleven we began to defcend, having had a very impercep-
tible afcent from Kenné all the way.

‘WE were now indemnified for the. famenefs of our na-
tural productions yefterday; for, on each fide of the plain,
we found different forts of marble, twelve kinds of which
I felected, and took with me.

AT noon, we came to a plain planted with acacia-trees,
cat equal diftances; fingle trees, fpreading broader than ufual,
as if on purpofe to proportion the refrefhment they gave to
the number of travellers who ftood in need of it. This is
a {tation of the Atouni Arabs after rain. From our leaving
Legeta, we had no water that, nor the following day.

On the right-hand fide of this plain we found porphyry
and granite, of very beautiful kinds. All the way, on both
fides of the valley, this day,the mountains were of porphyry,
and a very few of ftone. _

AT a quarter paft four, we encamped at Koraim, a fmall
plain, perfectly barren, confifting of fine gravel, fand, and
ftones, with a few acacia-trees, interfperfed throughout.

) ) P

Tue 2ift, we departed early in the morning from Ko-
‘aim, and, at ten o'clock, we pafied feveral defiles, perpetually
alarmed by a report, that the Arabs were approaching;
none of whom we ever faw. ‘We then proceeded through
feveral defiles, into a long plain that turns to the eaft, them
north-caft, and north, fo as to make a portion of a circle.
At the end.of this plain we came to a mountain, the great-

2 eft

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 177

eft part of which was of the marble, verde antico, as it is
called in Rome, but by far the moft beautiful of the kind
I had ever feen. |

Havinc paffed this, we had mountains on both fides of
us, but particularly on our right. The only ones that I my-
felf examined were of a kind of granite, with reddifh veins
throughout, with triangular and fquare black fpots. Thefe
mountains continued to Mefag el Terfowey, where we en-
camped at twelve o'clock; we were obliged to bring our
water from about five miles to the fouth-eaft. This water
does not appear to be from {fprings, it lies in cavities and .
grottos in the rock, of which there are twelve in number,
whether hollowed by nature or art, or partly by both, is
more than I can folve. Great and abundant rains fall here
in February. The clouds, breaking on the tops of thefe
mountains, in their way to Abyflinia, fill thefe cifterns with
large fupplies, which the impending rocks fecure from eva-
poration. |

Ir was the firft frefh water we tafted fince we left the Nile;
and the only water of any kind fince we left Legeta. But
fuch had been the forefight of our caravan, that very few
reforted thither, having all laid in abundant ftore from the
Nile ; and fome of them a quantity fufficient to ferve them
till their return. This was not our cafe. We had water, it
is true, from the Nile; but we never thought we could have
too much, as long as there was room in our water-{kins to
hold more; I therefore went early with my camel-drivers,
expecting to have feen fome antelopes, which every night
come to drink from the well, having no opportunity to do
it throughout the day.

Vo. I, ZL I HAD

378 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I uap not concealed myfelf half an hour, above a nar=
row path leading to the principal cave, before I faw, firft one
antelope walking very ftately alone ; then four others, clofe-
ly following him. Although’ I was wholly hid as long as
I lay ftill, he feemed to have difcerned me from the inftant
that I faw him. I fhould have thought it had been the
fmell that had difcovered me, had not I ufed the precaution
of carrying a piece of burnt turf along with me, and left
one with my horfe likewife; perhaps it was. this unufual
fmell that terrified him. Whatever:was the caufe, he ad-
vanced apparently in fear, and feemed to be trufted with.
the care of the flock, as the others teftified no apprehen-
fion, but were rather fporting or fighting with each. other..
Still he advanced flower, and with greater caution ; but, be--
ing perfectly within reach, I did not think proper any long-
er to ri{k the whole from a defire to acquire a greater num-.
ber. I {hot him fo juftly, that, giving one leap five or fix
feet high, he fell dead upon his head. I fired at the others,,
retiring all in a.croud; killed one likewife, and. lamed ano-.
ther, who fled among the mountains, where darknefs pro-.,
tected him. We were perfectly content with our acquifi-
tion, and the nature of the place did not prompt us to look:
after the wounded. We continued at the well. to affift our
companions who came in wantof water, a duty with which
neceflity binds us all to comply..

We returned near midnight with our game and our wa-
ter. We found our tents all lighted, which, at that time of’
aight, was unufuak I thought, however, it was on account
of my abfence, and to. guide me the furer home. We were:
however furprifed,when, coming within a moderate diftance:
ef our tent, we heard te word called for; lanfwered imme-

diately,,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 179

diately, Charlotte; and, upon our arrival, we perceived the
Turks were parading round the tents in arms, and foon
after our Howadat Arab came to us, and with him a mef-
fenger from Sidi Haffan, defiring me to come inftantly to
his tent, while my fervants advifed me firft to hear what
they had to fay to me in mine.

I soon, therefore, perceived that all was not well, and I
returned my compliments to Haflan, adding, that, if he had
~ any thing to fay to me fo late, he would do well to come, or
fend, as it was paft my hour of vifiting in the defert, efpe-
cially as I had not eat, and was tired -with having the charge
of the water. I. gave orders to my fervants to put out all
the extraordinary lights, as that feemed to be a mark of
fear; but forbade any one to fleep, excepting thofe who
had the charge of our beafts, and had been fetching the
water.

I rounp that, while our people had been afleep, two per-
fons had got into the tent and attempted to fteal one of the
portmanteaus ; but, as they were chained together, and the
tent-pole in the middle, the noife had awakened my fer-
vants, who had feized one of the men; and that the Turks
had intended inftantly to have difpatched him with their
knives, and with great difficulty had been prevented by my
fervants, according to my conftant orders, for I wifhed to

“avoid all extremities, upon fuch occafions, when poffible.
They had indeed leave to deal with their fticks as freely
as their prudence fuggefted to them; and they had gone,
in this cafe, fully beyond the ordinary limits. of difcretion,
efpecially Abdel Gin, who was the firft to feize the robber.
In fhort, they had dealt fo liberally with their fticks, that

ZL 2 the

180 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the thief was only known to be living by his groans, and
they had thrown him at a {mall diftance, for‘any perfon to
own him that pleafed. It appeared, that he was a fervant
of Sidi Haffan, an Egyptian flave, or fervant to Shekh Ha-
mam, who conducted or commanded the caravan, if there
Was any conduct Or command in it.

THERE were with me ten fervants, alt completely armed,
twenty-five Turks, who feemed worthy. to be depended up-
on, and four janiflaries, who had joined us from Cairo, fo
that there were of us forty men perfectly armed, befides
attendants:on the cattle. As we had people with us who
knew the wells, and alfo a friend who was acquainted. with
the Atouni, nothing, even in.adefert, could reafonably a-
larm us. — cit é

Wirn great difficulty we pulled down an old acacia-tree;
and procured fome old-dried camels dung, with which we:
roafted our two antelopes: very ill-roafted they were; and:
execrable meat, though they had been ever fo well drefled}
and had had the beft fauce of Chriftendom. . However, we
were in the defert, and every thing was acceptable. We
had fome fpirits, which finifhed our repaft that night: it
was exceedingly cold, and we fat thick about the fire..

Five men with firelocks, and a number of Arabs with
lances, having come towards us, and. being challenged by.-
the centinel for not. giving the word, were then defired to
ftand, or they: would be fired upon... They all cried: out;
Salam Alicum ! and | intimated that any three of them:might
come forward, but defired them to keep away the Arabs.
Three of them. accordingly came, and.then two more; They.

| Cae: delivered!

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 18%

delivered a meflage from Sidi Haffan, that my people had
killed a man; they defired that themurderermightbe deliver-
ed to them, and that I fhould come to his tent, and fee juftice
done. “I told them, that none of my people, however pro-
“voked, would put a man to death in my abfence, unlefs.
“in defence of their own lives ; that, if I had been there,’ I
“ fhould certainly have ordered them to fire upon: a: thief
“ catched in the act of ftealing within my tent; but, fince
“ he was dead, I was fatisfied as to him, only expected that
“ Sidi Haflan would give me up his companion, who. had.
“fled; that, as it was near morning, I fhould meet. him.
“ when the caravan decamped, and hear what he had to fay
“in his defence. In the mean time! forbade any perfon
“to come near my tent, or quarters, on any pretence what-
ever, till-day light.” Away they went murmuring, but
what they faid I did not underftand.. We heard no more
of them, and none of us flept. All of us, however, repeated:
our vows of ftanding by each other; and-we fince found,
that we had ftood in the way of a common practice, of ftrip-:
ping thefe poor ftrangers, the Turks, who come ewery: year
this road to Mecca.

Ar dawn of day, the caravan was all-in motion:... hey
had got intelligence, that two days before, about 300 Atouni
had. watered: at Terfowey ; and; indeed, there. were marks,
ef great refort at the well, where we filled the water.. We
had agreed not to load one of our camels, but let the. cara-
van go on before us, and meet the Atouni fir; that f only
fhould go on horfeback, about two: hundred yards into the:
plain from the tent,.and all the. reft.follow. me. on foot with:
arms in them hands..

ELAssa Ns

192" TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Hassan, too, was mounted on horfeback, with about a
hundred of his myrmidons, and a number of Arabs on foot.
He fent me word that I was to advance, with only two fer
vants ; but I returned for anfwer, that I had no intention to
advance at all; that if he had any bufinefs, he fhould fay
fo, and that I would meet him one to one, or three to fix,
juft as he pleafed. He fent me again word, that he wanted
to communicate the intelligence he had of the Atouni, to
put meon my guard. Ireturned for anfwer, that I was al-
ready upon my guard, againft all thieves, and did not make
any diftinction, if people were thieves themfelves, or en-
couraged others to be fo, or whether they were Atouni or
Ababdé. He then fent me a meflage, that it was a cold
morning, and wifhed I would give him a difh of coffee,
and keep thofe ftrangers away. I therefore defired one of
my fervants to bring the coffee-pot, and directing my people ~
to fit down, I rode up to him, and difmounted, as he did alfo,
when twenty or thirty of his vagabonds came, and fat
down likewife. He faid he was exceedingly furprifed, after
fending to me laft night, that I did not come to him; that
the whole camp was in murmur at beating the man, and
that it was all that he could do to hinder his foldiers from
falling upon us, and extirpating us all at once; that I did
wrong to protect thofe Turks, who carried always money
to Mecca for merchandife, and defrauded them of their dues.

My fervant having juft poured out a difh of coffee to give
him, I faid, Stay, Sir, till we know whether we are in peace.
Sidi Haffan, if that is the way of levying dues upon the
Turks, to fend thieves to rob them in my tént, you fhould
advife me firft of it, and then we fhould have fettled the
bufinefs. With regard to your preventing people from

murdering

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 183

murdering me, it is a boaft fo ridiculous thatI laugh at it.
Thofe pale-faced fellows who are about you muffled up in
burnoofes for fear of cold in the morning, are they capable
to look janiflaries in the face like mine? Speak lowly, and
in Arabic, when you talk at this rate, or perhaps it will not
be in my power to return you the compliment you did me
laft night, or hinder them from killing you on the fpot. Were
ever fuch words fpoken! faid a man behind; tell me, ma-
fter, are you a king? If Sidi Haflan, anfwered I, is your ma-
fter, and you {peak to me on this occafion, you are a wretch ;
get out of my fight ; I {wear I will not drink a dith of coffee
while you are here, and will mount my horfe directly.

I ruEen rofe, and the fervant took back the coffee-pot ;
upon which Haffan ordered his fervant out of his pre-
fence, faying, “ No, no; give me the coffee if weare in peace;”
and he drank it accordingly. Now, fays he, paft is paft; the
Atouni are to meet us at the *mouth of Beder; your people
are better armed than mine, are Turks, and ufed to fighting.
I would with you to go foremoft, and we will take charge
of your camels, though my people have 4000 of their own,
and. they have enough to do to take charge of the corn.
“ And I,” faid I, “ if I wanted water or provifion, would go
to meet the Atouni, who would ufe me well. Why, you don’t
know to whom you are fpeaking, nor that the Atouni are
Arabs of Ali Bey, and that Iam his man of confidence, go-
ing tothe Sherriffe of Mecca? The Atouni will not burt ws;
but, as you fay, you are commander of the caravan, we have:

all

* The Arabs call thefe narrow paffes in the mountains Fum, as the Hebrews did Pi, .the
mouth. Fam el Beder, is the mouth of Beder; Fum el Terfowey, the mouth or paflage of Ter~

fowey ; Piha Hibiroth, the mouth of the valley cut through with ravines.

184 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

all {worn we will not fire a fhot, till we fee you heartily en-
gaged;, and then we will do our beft to hinder the Arabs
from ftealing the Sherriffe of Mecca’s corn, for his fake only.”
They all cried out El Fedtah! El Fedtah! fo I faid the prayer
of.peace as a proxy; for none of the Turks would come near
him.

OpposiTE to where we were encamped is Terfowey, a-
large mountain, partly green-marble, partly granite, with
a red blufh upon a grey ground, with fquare oblong fpots.
About forty yards within the narrow valley, which fepa-
rates this mountain from its neighbour, we faw a part of
the fuft or fhaft of a monftrous obelifk of marble, very near-
ly fquare, broken at the end, and towards the top. It was
nearly thirty feet long, and nineteen feet in the face; about
two feet of the bottom were perfectly infulated, and one
whole fide feparated from the mountain. The gully had
been widened and levelled, and the road made quite up to
underneath the block.

We faw likewife, throughout the plain, fmall pieces of
jafper, having green, white, and red fpots, called in Italy,
“Diafpo Sanguineo.” All the mountains on both fides of
the plain feemed to be of the fame fort, whether they really
were fo or not, I will not fay, having had no time to exa-
mine them.

Tue 22d, at half paft one in the morning, we fet out full
of terror about the Atouni. We continued in a dire¢tion
mearly eaft, till at three we came to the defiles; but it was
fo dark, that it was impoflible to difcern of what the coun-
try on each fide confifted. At day-break, we found our-

felves

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 185

felves at the bottom of a mountain of granite, bare like the
former.

We faw quantities of fmall pieces of various forts of
granite, and porphyry fcattered over the plain, which had
been carried down by a torrent, probably from quarries of
ancient ages; thefe were white, mixed with black {pots ; red,
with green veins, and black fpots. After this, all the moun-
tains on the right hand were of red marble in prodigious

_ abundance, but of no great beauty. They continued, as the

granite did, for feveral miles along the road, while the oppo-
fite fide was all of dead-green, fuppofed ferpentine marble.

Ir was one of the moft extraordinary fights I ever faw.
The former mountains were of confiderable height, with-
out a tree, or fhrub, or blade of grafs upon them; but thefe
now before us had all the appearance, the one of having been
fprinkled over with Havannah, the other with Brazil {nuff
I wondered, that, as the red is neareft the fea, and the fhips
going down the Abyflinian coaft obferve this appearance
within lat. 26°, writers have not imagined this was called
the Red Sea upon that account, rather than for the many
weak reafons they have relied upon.

Asout eight o’clock we began to defcend fmartly, and, half
an hour after, entered into another defile like thofe before
defcribed, having mountains of green marble on every fide
of us. At nine,on our left, we faw the higheft mountain
we had yet pafled. We found it, upon examination,to be com-
pofed of ferpentine marble; and, thro’ about one-third of the
thicknefs, ran a large vein of jafper, green, fpotted with red.
Its exceeding hardnefs was fuch as not to yield to the blows

Vou, I, a of

186; TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of ahammer; but the works of old times were more ap=-
parent in it, than in any mountain we had feen. Ducts, or-
channels, for carrying water tran{verfely, were obferved evi-.
dently to terminate in this quarry. of-jafper::a proof that.
water was one of the means ufed in cutting thefe hard.
ftones.

Azsour ten-o’¢lock, defcending:very rapidly, with green:
marble and jafper on each, fide of. us, but.no other green:
thing whatever, we had the firft profpect_of the Red Sea,.
and, at a quarter paft eleven, we arrived at Coffeir.. It has.
been a wonder with all.travellers, and with myfelf among,
the reft, where the ancients procured that prodigious quan--
tity of fine marble, with which all their buildings abound...
That wonder, however, among many. others, now ceafes,.
after having pafled, m four days, more granite, porphyry,.
marble, and jafper, than would build Rome, Athens, Corinth,.
Syracufe, Memphis, Alexandria, and haif a’dozen fuch ci--
ties. It feemed to be very vifible, that thofe openings in the®
hills, which I call Defiles, were notnatural, but artificial; andi
that whole mountains had been cut.out at thefe places, tas
preferve a flope towards the Nile as gentle as poflible: this,,
I fuppofe, might be a defcent. of about: one foot.in fifty at.
moft; fo that, from the mountains.to. the Nile, thofe heavy:
earriages muft have moved with. as little draught as pof--
fible, and, at the fame time, been fufficiently impeded by-
friction, fo.as not to run amain, or acquire: an increafed ve-..
locity, againft which, alfo, there muft have, been other. pro--
vifions contrived, As I made another excurfion to thefe-
marble mountains from Coffeir, I will, once forall, here fet.
down what I. obferved concerning their natural appear-.
ance,

THE:

THE SOURCE OF THE NIL¥. aBy

‘Tue porphyry fhews itfelf by a fine purple fand, without
any glofs or glitter on it, and is exceedingly agreeable to the
eye. It is mixed with the native white fand, and fixed gra-
vel of the plains. Green unvariegated marble, is generally
feen in the fame mountain with the porphyry. Where the
two veins meet, the marble is for fome imches brittle, but
the porphyry of the fame hardnefs as in other places.

Tue granite is covered with fand, and looks like ftone of a
dirty, brown colour. But this is only the change and impref-
fion the fun and weather have made upon it; for, upon break-
ing it, you fee it is grey granite, with black fpots, with a red-
dith caft, or blufh over it. This red feems to fade and fuf-
fer from the outward air, but, upon working or polifhing
the furface, this colour again appears. It is in greater
quantity than the porphyry, and nearer the RedSea. Pom-
pey’s pillar feems to have been from this quarry.

Next to the granite, but never, as I obferved, joined with
it in the fame mountain, is the red marble. It is covered
with fand of the fame colour, and looks as if the whole
mountain were {pread over with brick duft. There is alfo
a red marble with white veins, which I have often feen at
Rome, but not in principal fubjects, I have alfo feen it in

Britain. The common green (called Serpentine) looks as if

covered over with Brazil {nuff. Joined with this green, I
faw two famples of that beautiful marble they call Habella;
one of them with a yellowith cait, which we call Quaker-
colour ; the other with a blueith, which is commonly termed
Dove-colour. Thefe two feem to divide the refpective
mountains with the ferpentine. In this green, likewile, it
was we faw the vein of jafper; but whether it was abfolute-

Ala (2 ly

188 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ly the fame with this which is the bloody Jaihee or erbther
f{tone, is what we had not time to fettle.

__ I suoutp firft have made mention of the verde antico, the
dark green with white irregular fpots, becaufe it is of the
greateft value, and neareft the Nile. Thisis produced in the
mountains of the plain green, or ferpentine, as is the jafper, .
and is not difcoverable by the duft, or any particular colour
upon it. Firft, there is a blue fleaky ftone, exceedingly even
and fmooth in the grain, folid, and without fparks or co-
lour. When broken, it is fomething lhghter than a {late,
and more beautiful than moft marble; it is like the lava of
volcanoes, when polifhed. After lifting this, we come to the
beds of verde antico; and here the quarrying is very obvi-
ous, for it has been uncovered in patches, not above twenty
feet {quare. Then, in another part, the green ftone has.
been removed, and another pit of it wrought.

I saw, in feveral places in the plain, fmall pieces of A-
frican marble fcattered about, but no: rocks or mountains
of it. I fuppofe it is found in the heart of fome other co-
loured marble, and in ftrata, like the jafper and verde anti-
co, and, I fufpecét,in the mountains of Ifabella marble, efpe-
cially of the yelloweft fore of it, but this is mere conjecture..
This prodigious ftore of marble is placed upon a ridge,
whence there is a defcent to the eaft or weft, either to the
Nile or Red Sea. The level ground and: hard-fixed gravel
are proper for the heavieft carriages, and will eafily and.
fmoothly convey any weight whatever to its place of em-
barkation on the Nile; fo that another wonder ceafed, how
the ancients tranf{ported thofe vaft blocks to Thebes, Mem-
phis, and Alexandria.

CossEIR

THE SOU RiGE.OF THE NILE, 18

Cosseir is a fmall mud-walled village, built upon the
fhore, among hillocks of floating fand. It is defended by a
fquare fort of hewn ftone, with {quare towers in the angles,
which have in them three {mall cannon of iron, and one of
brafs, all in very bad condition; of no other ufe but to.
terrify the Arabs, and hinder them from plundering the
town when full of corn, going to Mecca in time of famine.
The walls are not high; nor was it neceflary,.if the great
guns were in order. But as this isnot the cafe, the ram-
parts are heightened by clay, or by mud-walls, to fcreen.
the foldiers from the fire-arms of the Arabs, that might.
otherwife command them from the fandy hills in the neigh-
bourhood.

THERE are feveral wells of brackifh water on the N. W...
of the caftle, which, for experiment’s fake, I made drinkable,.
by filtering it through fand; but the water in. ufe is brought
from Terfowey, a good day’s journey off.

Tue port, if we may call it fo, is on the fouth-eatft of the
town. It is nothing but a rock which runs out about four
hundred yards into the fea, and defends the veflels, which
ride to the weit of it, from the north and north-eaft winds,
as the houfes of the town cover them from the north-wetft.

THERE is a large inclofure with a high mud-wall, and,
-within, every merchant has a fhop or magazine for his
corn and merchandife : little of this laft is imported, unlefs
eoarfe India goods, for the confumption of Upper Egypt
itfelf, fince the trade to Dongola and Sennaar has been in-

terrupted.
buaD

390 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I ap orders from Shekh Hamam to lodge in the caftle.
But a few hours before my arrival, Huffein Bey Abou Kerfh
landed from Mecca, and Jidda, and he had taken up the
apartments which were deflined for me. He was one of
thofe Beys whom Ali Bey had defeated, and driven from
Cairo. He was called Abou Kerfh, i.e. Father Belly, from be-
ing immoderately fat ; his adverfity had brought him a lit-
tle into fhapes. My fervants, who had gone before, think-
ing that a friend of the Bey in power was better than an
enemy outlawed, and banifhed by him, had inadvertently
‘put fome of my baggage into the caftle juft when this po-
tentate was taking pofleflion. Swords were immediately
drawn, death and deftruction threatened to my poor fer-
vants, who fled and hid themfelves till I arrived.

Upon their complaint, I told them they had acted im-
properly; that a fovereign was afovereign all the world over;
and it was not my bufinefs to make a difference, whether
he was in power or not. I eafily procured a houfe, and
fent a janiffary of the four that had joined us from Cairo, —
with my compliments to the Bey, defiring reftitution of my
baggage, and that he would excufe the ignorance of my
fervants, who did not know that he was at Coffleir; but
only, having the firman of the Grand Signior, and letters
from the Bey and Port of janiffaries of Cairo, they pre-
fumed thatI had a right to lodge there, if he had not taken
up the quarters.

Ir happened, that an intimate friend of mine, Mahomet
Topal, captain of one of the large Cairo fhips, trading to
Arabia, was a companion of this Huffein Bey, and had car-
ried him to fee Captain Thornhill, and fome of our Englifh

captains

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. rg:

eaptains at Jidda, who, as their very laudable cuftom is, al-
ways fhew fuch people fome civilities. He queftioned the
janiflary about me, who:told him I was Englifh; that I had:
the protection I had mentioned, and that, from kindnefs
and charity, I had: furnifhed the ftranger Turks with water,.
and provifion at my own expence, when crofling the defert..
He profeffed himfelf exceedingly afhamed. at the beha-

viour of his férvants, who had: drawn their fabres upon.
mine, and had-cut my carpet and fome cords. After which;.
of his-own accord, he ordered his kaya, or next. in com-

mand, to remove from: the lodging he occupied, and inftead:
of fending back my baggage by my fervant, he directed it:
to be carried into the apartment from which the kaya had:
removed. This labfolutely refufed, and: fent word,. I. un--
derftood he was to be there for a. few days only; and as.
ILmight ftay for a longer time,.I fhould only defire to fuc-
ceed him after his departure, m order to put my baggage:
in fafety from. the Arabs ; but.for the prefent they were in
no danger, as long as he was in the town. 1 told him, I would:
pay my refpects to him.in:the evening, when the weather

cooled. I-did fo, and, contrary to his expectations, brought

him a‘fmall prefent.. Great mtercourfe of. civility paffed ;:
my fellow-travellers,. the Turks, were all.feated there, andi
he gave me, repeatedly, very honourable teftimonials of my-
charity, generofity, and-kindnefs.to them...

Tuese Turks, finding themfelves in a fituation to be
Heard, had not omitted. the opportunity of complaining to
Huffein Bey. of the attempt of the Arab:to rob them in the
defert.. The Bey afked me, If it happened in my tent? I
faid, It. was in that of my fervants.. “ What is the reafon,

fayg,

a

192 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fays he, that, when you Englith people know fo well what
good government is, you did not order his head to be
ftruck off, when you had him in your hands, before the
door of the tent?”’---“ Sir,” faid I, “ [know well what good
government is; but being a ftranger, and a Chriftian, I
have no fort of title to exercife the power of life and death
in this country; only in this one cafe, when a man_.at-
tempts my life, then I think I am warranted to defend
myfelf, whatever may be the confequence to him. My
men took him in the fact, and they had my orders, in fuch
cafes, to beat the offenders fo that they fhould not fteal
thefe two months again: They did fo; that was punifh-
ment enough in cold blood.”—-“ But my blood,” fays he,
“ never cools with regard to fuch rafcals as thefe: Go (and
he called one of his attendants) tell Haflan, the head of the
caravan, from me, that unlefs he hangs that Arab before
fun-rife to-morrow, I will carry him in irons to Furfhout.”

Upon this meflage I took my leave; faying only, “ Huf-
fein Bey, take my advice ; procure a veffel and fend thefe
Turks over to Mecca before you leave this town, or, be af
fured they will all be made refponfible for the death of
this Arab; will be ftripped naked, and perhaps murdered,
as foon as your back is turned.” It was all I could do to
get them protected thus far. This meafure was already
provided for, and the poor Turks joyfully embarked next
morning. The thief was not at all molefted: he was fent
out of the way, under pretence that he had fled. ©

Cosserr has been miflaken by different authors. Mr
Huet, Bifhop of Avranches, fays, It is the Myos Hormos
of antiquity; others, the Philoteras Portus of Ptolemy.
The

a:
Res OURCE! OF THE NILE. 193

The fact is, that neither one nor other is the port, both be-
img confiderably farther to the northward. Nay, more, the
prefent town of Cofleir was no ancient port at all; old Cof-
feir was five or fix miles to the northward. There can be
no fort of doubt, that it was the Portus Albus, or the White
Harbour ; for we find the fteep defcent from Terfowey, and
the marble mountains, called, to this day, the Accaba,
which, in Arabic, fignifies a fteep afcent or defcent, is pla-
ced here by Ptolemy with the fame name, though in Greek
that name has no fignification. Again, Ptolemy places *Aias
Mons, or the mountain Aias, juft over Coffeir, and this moun-
tain, by the fame name, is found there at this day. And,
upon this mountain, and the one next it, (both over the
port) are two very remarkable chalky cliffs; which, being
confpicuous and feen far at fea, have given the name of the
White Port, which Cofleir bore in all antiquity..

I rounp, by many meridian altitudes of the fun, taken
at the caftle, that Coffeir is in lat. 26° 77 51” north; and, by
three obfervations of Jupiter’s fatellites, I found its longi=
tude to be 34° 4/15” eaft of the meridian of Greenwich.

Tue carayan from Syené arrived at this time, efcorted by
four hundred Ababdé, all upon camels, each armed with two
fhortjavelins. The manner of their riding was very whim-
fical; they had two fmall faddles on each camel, and fat
back to back, which might be, in their practice, convenient’
enough; but I am fure, that, if they had been to fight with:
us, every ball would have killed two of them, what ¢heir ad-
vantage would have been, I know not.

Vor. I. Bb. THE:

* Ptolera. Geograph. lib. 4..p. 103,

194 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue whole town was in terror at the influx of fo many
barbarians, who knew no law whatever. They brought a
thoufand camels loaded with wheat to tranfport to Mecca.
“very body {hut their doors, and I among the reft, whilft the
Bey fent to me to remove into the caftle. But I had no
fear, and refolved to make an experiment, after hearing
thefe were people of Mmmer, whether I could truft them in
the defert or not. However, I fent all my inftruments, my
money, and the beft of my baggage, my medicines and
raemorandums, into a chamber in the caftle: after the door
was locked, and the key brought to me, the Bey ordered to
nail up pieces of wood acrofs it, and fet a centinel to watch
it all day, and two in the night.

Iwas next morning down at the port looking for fhells
in the fea, when a fervant of mine came to me in apparent
fright and hurry. He told me the Ababdé had found out
that Abdel Gin, my Arab, was an fount, their enemy, and that
they had either cut his throat, or were about to do it; but,
by the fury with which they feized him, in his fight, he
could not believe they would fpare him a minute.

He very providently brought me a horfe, upon which I
mounted immediately, feeing there was no time to be loft;
and inthe fifhing-drefs, in whichI was, with a red turban a-
bout my head, I galloped as hard as the horfe could carry
me through the town. If I was alarmed myfelf, I did
not fail to alarm many others. They all thought it was
fomething behind, not any thing before me, that occafions
ed this fpeed. I only told my fervant at pafling, to fend
two of my people on horfeback after me, and that the Bey
would lend them horfes,
I was

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. TOF.

I was not got above a mile into the fands, when I began
to reflect on the folly of the undertaking. I was going in-
to the defert among a band of favages, whofe only trade

- was robbery and murder, where, in all probabilty, I fhould

be as ill treated as the man I was attempting tofave. But,
feeing a crowd of people about half a mile before me,
and thinking they might be at that time murdering that
poor, honeft, and fimple fellow, all confideration of my own
fafety for the time vanifhed.

Uron my coming near them, fix or eight of them fur-
rounded me on horfeback, and began to gabble in their
own language. I was not very fond of my fituation. It
would have coft them nothing to have thruft a lance
through my back, and taken the horfe away; and, after {trip-
ping me, to have buried me in a hillock of fand, if they
were fo kind as give themfelves that laft trouble. How-
ever, I picked up courage, and putting on the beft appear-
ance I could, faid to them fteadily, without trepidation,“ What
men are thefe before ?” The anfwer, after fome paufe, was,.
they are men; and they looked very queerly, as if they meant
to afk each other, What fort of a {park is this? “ Are thofe be-
fore us Ababdé, faid 1; are they from Shekh Ammer *” One
of them nodded, and grunted fullenly, rather than faid
“ Aye, Ababdé from Shekh Ammer.” “ Then Salam Alicum!
faid I, we are brethren. How does the Nimmer? Who com-
mands you here? Where is Ibrahim?

At the mention of Nimmer, and Ibrahim, their counten-
ance changed, not to any thing fweeter or gentler than be-
fore, but toa look of great furprife. They had not return-
ed my falutation, peace be between us; but one of them afked

Bb 2. m

iD

196 ARAVELS TO DISCOVER

me who I was ?---“ Tell me firft, faid I, who that is youhave
before ?”---“ It is an Arab, our enemy, fays he, guilty of our
blood.”---“ He is, replied I, my fervant. He is a Howadat
Arab, his tribe lives in peace at the gates of Cairo, in the
fame manner your’s at Shekh Ammer does at thofe of Af
fouan.” “TI afk you, Where is Ibrahim your Shekh’s fon ?”---
“ Ibrahim, fays he, is at our head, he commands us here.
But who are you?’---“ Come with me, and fhew me Ibrahim,
faid I, and I will fhew you who I am.”

I passepD by thefe, and by another party of them. They
had thrown a hair rope about the neck of Abdel Gin, who
awwas almoft ftrangled already, and cried out moft miferably,
for me not to leave him. I went directly to the black tent
which I faw had a long fpear thruft up in the end of it,
and met at the door Ibrahim and his brother, and feven or
eight Ababdé. He did not recollect me, but I difmounted
clofe to the tent-door, and had fcarce taken hold of the pil-
lar of the tent, and faid Fiarduc*, when Ibrahim, and his
brother both knew me. “ What! faid they, are you Yagoube
our phyfician, and our friend ?”---“ Let me afk you, replied
I, if you are the Ababdé of Shekh Ammer, that curfed your-
felves, and your children, if you ever lifted a hand againit
me, or mine, in the defert, or in the plowed field: If you
have repented of that oath, or {worn falfely on purpofe to
deceive me, here lam come to you in the aefert.” “ What is
the matter, fays Ibrahim, we are the Ababdé of Shekh Am-
mer, there are no other, and we flill fay, Curfed be he, whe-

ther
a

* That is, Lam under your protection.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 1Q7

ther our father, or children, that lifts his hand againft you,
in the defert, or in the plowed field.” “ Then, faid I, you
are all accurfed in the defert, and in the field, for a num-
ber of your people are going to murder my fervant. They
took him indeed from my houfe i ¢he town, perhaps that is
not included in your curfe, as it is neither in the defert nor
the phwed feld.”--I was very angry. “Whew ! fays Ibrahim
with a kind of whiftle, that is downright nonfenfe. Who
are thofe of my people that have authority to murder, and
take prifoners while I am here? Here one of you, get up-
on Yagoube’s horfe, and bring that man to me.” Then
turning to me, he defired I would go into the tent and fit
down: “ For God renounce me and mine, (fays he), if it is
“ as you fay, and one of them hath touched the hair of his
* head, if ever 4e drinks of the Nile again.”

A NuMBER Of people who had feen me at Shekh Ammer,
now came all around me; fome with complaints of fick-
nefs, fome with compliments; more with impertinent quef
tions, that had no relation to either. At laft came in the
culprit Abdel Gin, with forty or fifty of the Ababdé who
had gathered round him, but no rope about his neck. There
began a violent altercation between Ibrahim, and his men,
in their own language. All that I could guefs was, that
the men had the worft of it; for every one prefent faid
fomething harfh to them, as difapproving the action.

I HEARD the name of Haflan Sidi Haflan often in the dif
pute. I began to fufpect fomething, and defired in Arabic
to know what that Sidi Hailan was, fo often mentioned in
«difcourfe, and then the whole fecret came out,

THE

198 - TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tuz reader will remember, that this Arab, Abdel Gin,
was the perfon that feized the fervant of Haflan, the Captain
of the Caravan, when he was attempting to fteal the Turk’s
portmanteau out of my tent ; that my people had beat him
till he lay upon the ground like dead, and that Huflein Bey,,
at the complaint of the Caramaniots, had ordered him to be
hanged. Now, in order to revenge this, Haffan hadtold the .
Ababdé that Abdel Gin was an Atouni fpy, that he had de-
tected him in the Caravan, and that he was come to learn
the number of the Ababdé, in order to bring his compa-
nions to furprife them. He did not fay one word that he
was my fervant, nor that I was at Cofleir; fo the people
thought they had a very meritorious facrifice to make, in
the perfon of poor Abdel Gin.

Aut paffed now in kindnefs, frefh medicines were afked
for the Nimmer, great thankfulnefs, and profeffions, for
what they had received, and a prodigious quantity of meat
on wooden platters very excellently drefled, and moft agree-
ably diluted with frefh water, from the coldeft rock of Ter-
fowey, was fet before me.

In the mean time, two of my fervants, attended by three
of Huffein Bey, came in great anxiety to know what was
the matter; and, as neither they nor the Arabs chofe much
each others company, I fent them with a fhort account of
the whole to the Bey ; and foon after took my leave, car-.
' rying Abdel Gin along with me, who had been clothed by
Ibrahim from head to foot. We were accompanied by two.
Ababdé, in cafe of accident. i

I cANNOT

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 199

I cannot help here accufing myfelf of what, doubtlefs,
may be well reputed a very great fin. I was fo enraged at
the traitorous part which Haflan had acted, that, at parting,
I could not help faying to Ibrahim, “Now, Shekh, I have
done every thing you have defired, without ever expecting
fee, or reward; the only thing I now afk you, and it is pro-
bably the laft, is, that you revenge me upon this Haflan,
who is every day in your power.” Upon this, he gave me
his hand, faying, “ He fhall not die in his bed, or I fhall

never fee old age.”

We now returned all in great fpirits to Coffeir, and I ob-
ferved that my unexpected connection with the Ababdé had
given me an influence in that place, that put me above all
fear of perfonal danger, efpecially as they had feen in the
defert, that the Atouni were my friends alfo, as reclaiming
this Arab fhewed they really were. |

Tue Bey infifted on my fupping with him. At his defire I
‘told him the whole ftory, at which he feemed to be much fur-
prifed, faying, feveral times, “ Menullah! Menullah! Muck-
toub!” It is God’s doing, it is God’s doing, it was written fo.
And, when I had finifhed, he faid to me, “ I will not leave
‘this traitor with you to trouble you further ; I will oblige
him, as it is his duty, to attend me to Furfhout.” This he
accordingly did; and, to my very great furprife, though he
might be affured I had complained of him to Shekh Ham-

am, meeting me the next day, when they were all ready to
depart, and were drinking coffee with the Bey, he gave me
a flip of paper, and defired me, by that direction, to buy him
_-a fabre, which might be procured in Mecca. It feems it is
the manufacture of Perfia, and, though I do not underftand

3 in

200 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

4

im. the leaft, the import of the terms, I give it to the reader:

that he may know by. what defcription he is to buy an ex-

céllent fabre. It is called Suggaro-Tabanne Harefanne A--

gemmi, for Sidi Haffan of Furfbout.

ALTHOUGH pretty much ufed to flifle my refentment

upon impertinences of this kind, I could not, after the trick
he had played me with the Ababdé, carry it indifferently ;
ithrew the billet before the Bey, faying to Haflan, “A fword.
of that value would be ufelefs and mifemployed in the hand
of a coward and a traitor, fuch as furely you-muft be fen-
fible 1 know you to be.” He looked to the Bey as if appeal-
ing to him, from the incivility of the obfervation; but the
Bey, without fcruple, anfwered, “It is true, it is true what.
ne fays, Haffan; if I wasin Ali Bey’s place, when you dared.
ufe a ftranger of mine, or any ftranger, as you have done
him, I would plant you upon a fharp ftake in the market-

place, till the boys in the town ftoned you to death; but:
he has complained of you in a fetter,and I will be a witnefs:

againft you before Hamam, for your conduct is not that of}
a Muffulman.”

Wuite I was engaged with the Ababdé, a veflel was:
feen in dittrefs in the offing, and all the boats went. out
and towed her in. It was the vefiel in which the twenty-.
five Turks had embarked, which had been heavily loaded:

Nothing is fo dreadful:as the embarkation in that fea; for

the boats have no decks ; the whole, from ftern to ftem,; be--
ing filled choak-full of wheat, the watte, that is the flope of
theveffel, between the heightofherftemandftern, is filled upby:
one plankon each fide, which is all that is above the furface
ef the waves. Sacks, tarpaulins, or mats, are flrowed along

i the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 20%

the furface of the wheat upon which all the paffengers lye.
On the leaft agitation of the waves, the fea getting in upon
‘the wheat, increafes its weight fo prodigioufly, that, fall-
ing below the level of the gunnel, the water rufhes in
between the plank and that part of the veffel, and down
it goes to the Peron,

Tuoucu every day produces an accident of this kind
from the fame caufe, yet fuch is the defire of gaining
money in that feafon, which offers but once a-year, that
every fhip fails, loaded in the fame manner as the laft
which perifhed. This was juft the cafe with the veffel
that had carried the Turks.. Anxious to go away, they
would not wait the figns of the weather being rightly
fettled. Ullah Kerim! they cry,‘ God is great and is merci-
ful’; and upon that they embark in a navigation, where
it needs indeed a miracle to fave them.

Tue Turks all came afhore but one; the youngeft, and,
according to all appearance, the beft, had fallen over board,
and perifhed. The Bey received them, and with. great cha-
rity entertained them all at his own expence, but they were
fo terrified with the fea, as almoft to refolve never. to make
another attempt..

The Bey had brought with him from Jidda, a fmall, but
tight veffel belonging to* Sheher; which came from that
country loaded with frankincenfe, the commodity of that

Vox. I. Cc port,

* On the eaft coaft of Arabia Felix, Syagrum Promontorium,-

boa TRAVELS TO DESCOVER

port. The Rais had bufinefs down the Gulf at Tor, and
he had fpoken to the Bey, to recommend him to me. I had
no bufinefs at Tor, but as we had grown into a kind -of
friendfhip, from frequent converfation, and -as he was, ac-
cording to his own word, a great faint, like my laft boat-
man, 2 character that I thought I could perfectly manage,
I propofed to the Bey, that he and I fhould contribute fome-
thing to make it worth this Captain’s pains, to take our
friends the Turks on board, and carry them to Yambo, that
they might not be deprived of that bleffing which would
refult from their vifit to the Prophet’s tomb, and which they
had toiled fo much to earn. I promifed, in that.cafe, to
hire his veffel at fo much a month upon its return from
Yambo; and, as I had then formed a refolution of making a
furvey of the Red Sea to the Straits of Babelmandeb, the
Rais was to take his directions from me, till I pleafed
to difmifs him. |

NoTuHING was more agreeable to the views of all parties
than this. The Bey promifed to ftay till they failed, and I
engaged to take him after he returned; and as the captain,
in quality of a faint, affured us, that any rock that ftood in
our way in the voyage, would either jump afide, or become
foft like a {fpunge, as it had often happened before, both
the Turks and we were now affured of a voyage without ©
danger.

At. was fettled to our mutual fatisfaction, when, unluc-
kily, the Turks going down to their boat, met Sidi Haffan,
whom, with reafon, they thought the author of all their
misfortunes. The whole twenty-four drew their fwords,
and, without feeking fabres from Perfia, as he had done,

2 they

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 203

_ ghey would have cut Sidi Haffan in pieces, but, fortunately

for him, the Turks had great cloth trowfers, like Dutch-
men, and they could not run, whilft he ran very nimbly in
his. Several piftols, however, were fired, one of which fhot
him in the back part‘of the ear; on which he fled for re=
fuge to. the Bey, and we never Cae him more.

™

Ci ez CHAP.

204 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

, ma ie: H eA
‘CHAP. IX

Voyage to Fibbel Z ieee aE to Co offcir-—Sails Sram Co le af~
fateen lands—Arrive at Tor.

HE Turks and the Bey departed, and with the Turks

I difpatched my Arab, Abdel Gin, not only giving him

fomething myfelf, but recommending him to my beneficent
countrymen at Jidda, if he fhould go there,

1 now took up my quarters in the caftle, and as the Ab-
abdé had told ftrange ftories about the Mountain of Eme-
ralds, I determined, till my captain fhould return, to make a

voyage thither. There was no poflibility of knowing the °

diftance by report; fometimes it was twenty-five miles, fome-
times it was fifty, fometimes it was a hundred, and God
knows how much more.

I cuose a man who had been twice at thefe mountains
of emeralds; with the beft boat then in the harbour, and
on Tuefday the 14th of March, we failed, with the wind at
North Eaft, from the harbour of Coffeir, about an hour be-

fore the dawn of day. We kept coafting along, with a very

moderate wind, much diverted with the red and green ap-
| pearances

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 206

pearances of the marble mountains upon the coaft. Our
veffel had one fail, like a ftraw mattrefs, made of the leaves
of a kind of palm-tree, which they call Doom. It was fixed
above, and drew up like a curtain, but did not lower with a
yard like a fail; fo that upon ftrefs of weather, if the fail
was furled, it was fo top-heavy, that the fhip muft founder,
or the maft be carried away. But, by way of indemnifica-
tion, the planks of the veflel were fewed together, and there
was nota nail, nor a piece of iron, in the whole fhip; fo
that, when you ftruck upon a rock, feldom any damage en-
fued. For my own part, from an abfolute deteftation of her

whole conftruction, I infifted. npn keeping clofe along fhore,
at an eafy fail. |

THE Gaiweens: to the leeward of us, belonged to our
friends the Ababdé. There was great plenty of fhell-fith to

’ be picked up onevery fhoal. I had loaded the veffel with .

four fkins of frefh water, equal to four hogfheads, with
cords, and buoys fixed to the end of each of them, fo that,
sf we had been fhipwrecked near land, as: rubbing two
flicks together made us fire, I was not afraid of receiving
fuccour, before we were driven to the laft extr emity, provi-
ded we did not perifh in the fea, of which I was not roy
apprehenfive.

On the rsth, about nine o’clock, I faw a large high
rock, like a pillar, rifing out of the fea. At firft, I took it
for a part of the Continent ; but, as we advanced nearer it,
the fun being very, clear, and the fea calm, I took an obfer-
vation, and as our fituation was lat. 25° 6’, and the ifland a-
bout a league diftant, to the 8. S. W. of us, I concluded its
latitude to be pretty exattly 25° 3’ North. This ifland is

4 _ about

206 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

about three miles from the fhore, of an oval form, rifing:
in the middle. It feems to me to be-of granite ; and is cal-

led, in the language of the country, Jibbel Siberget, which.
has been trantlated the Mountain of Emeralds.. Siberget, how-.
ever, is a word in the language of the Shepherds, who, I

doubt, never in their lives faw an emerald; and though the

Arabic tranflation is Yiblel Zumrud, and. that word has been.
transferred to the emerald, a very fine flone,, oftener feen’
fince the difcovery of the new world, yet I very much*
doubt, that either Siberget or Zumrud ever meant Emerald in
old times. My reafon is this, that we found, both here and’
in the Continent, fplinters, and- pieces of green pellucid
chryftaline fubftance; yet, though green, they were veiny,.
clouded, and: not at all: fo hard as rock-cryftal; a mineral
production certainly, but a little harder than glafs, and this, .
tapprehend, was what the Shepherds, or people of Beja, cal--_
led Siberger; the Latins Smaragdus, and the Moors Zumrud..

Tue 16th, at day-break in the morning, I took the Arab:
of Cofleir witheme, who knew the place.. We landed on a
point perfectly defert; at-firft, fandy like Coffeir, afterwards,.
where the foil was fixed, producing fome few plants of rue:
or abfinthium.. We advanced above three miles farther in:
a perfectly defert country, with only a few acacia-trees fcat-.
tered here and there, and came to the foot of the mountains..
Tafked my guide the name of that place; he faid it was
Saiel. They are never at a lofs for a name,.and thofe who:
do not underftand the language, always believe them. This:
would have been the cafe in the prefent conjuncture. He-
knew not the name of the place, and perhaps it had no:
name, but he called it Saie/, which fignifies. a male acacia-
tree; merely becaufe he faw an acacia. growing there; and,.

: with

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 297

with equal reafon, he might have called every mile Saiel,
from the Gulf of Suez to the line.

We fee this abufe in.the old Itineraries, efpecially in the
* Antonine, from fuch atown to fuch.atown, fo many miles;
and what is the next flation? (e/ feegera,) ten miles. This
el feggera t+, the Latin readers take to be the name of a
town, as Harduin, and all commentators on the clafflics, have
done. But fo far from. Seggera fignifying atown, it imports
juft the contrary, that thereis no town there, but-the travel- -
ler muft be obliged to take up his quarters under a tree that
night, for fuch is the meaning of Seggera as a ftation, and
fo likewife of Saiel.

Ar the foot of the mountain, or about feven yards up
from the bafe of it, are five pits or fhafts, none of them
four feet in diameter, called the Zumrud Wells, from which
the ancients are faid:to have drawn the emeralds. We were
not provided with materials, and little endowed with incli-
mation, to defcend into any one of them, where the air was
probably bad. I picked up the nozzels, and fome frag-
ments of lamps, like-thofe of which ‘we find millions in
Italy : and fome worn fragments, but very fmall ones, of
that brittle green chryftal, which is the fiberget and bilur
of Ethiopia, perhaps the zumrud, the {maragdus defcribed
by Pliny, but by no means the emerald, known fince the
difcovery of the new world, whofe firft character abfolute-

ly

* Itim. Anton. aCarth. p. 4.
} Sothe next flage from Gyenéis called Hiera Sycaminos, afycamore-tree, Ptol, lib. 4. p. 108+

208 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ly defeats its pretenfion, the true Peruvian emerald being
equal in hardnefs to the ruby. i),

Pliny * reckons up twelve kind of emeralds, and names
them all by the country where they are found. Many have
thought the {maragdus to be buta finer kind of jafper. Pomet
affures us it is a mineral, formed in iron, and fays he had

one to which iron-ore was fticking. If this was the cafe,
the fineft emeralds fhould not come from Peru, where, as

far as ever has been yet difcovered, there is no iron.

Wirn regard to the Oriental emeralds, which they fay
come from the Eaft Indies, they are now fufficiently known,
and the value of each ftone pretty well afcertained ; but all.

‘our induftry and avarice have not yet difcovered a mine of
emeralds there, as far as I have heard: That there were
emeralds in the Eaft Indies, upon the firft difcovery of it by
‘the Cape, there is no fort of doubt; that there came emeralds
from that quarter in the tinte of the Romans, feems to ad-
‘mit of as little; but few antique emeralds have ever been

feen; and fo greatly in efteem, andrare were they in thofe
times, that it was made a crime for any artift to engrave up=

on. an emerald f.

Ir is very natural to fuppofe, that fome people of the Eat
had a communication and trade with the new world, before’
we attempted to fhare it with them; and that the emeralds,,
they had brought from that quarter, were thofe which came

afterwards

* Plin, lib; xxxvil. cap. 5. t Ditto.

¥
i
7
s

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 209

afterwards into Europe, and were called the Oriental, tll
they were confounded with the * Peruvian, by the quantity
of that kind brought into the Eaft Indies, by the Jews and.
Moors, after the difcovery of the new Continent.

But what invincibly proves, that the ancients and we are
not agreed as to the fame ftone, is, that + Theophraftus
fays, that in the Egyptian commentaries he faw mention
made of an emerald four cubits, (fix feet long,) which was
fent-as a prefent to one of their kings; and in one of the
temples of Jupiter in Egypt he faw an obelifk 60 feet high,
made of four emeralds: and Roderick of Toledo informs
us, that, when the Saracens took that city, Tarik, their
chief, had a table of an emerald 365 cubits, or 5474 feet
long. The Moorifh hiftories of the invafion of Spain are
full of fuch emeralds.

‘Havine fatisfied my curiofity as to thefe mountains,
without having feen a living creature, I returned to my boat,
where I found all well, and an excellent dinner of fith pre-
pared. Thefe were of three kinds, called Biffer, Surrum-
bac, and Nhoude el Benaat. The firft of thefe feems to be
of the Oyfter-kind, but the fhells are both equally curved
and hollow, and open with a hinge on the fide like a muf-
fel. It has a large beard, like an oyfter, which is not eata-
ble, but which fhould be ftript off. We found fome of thefe
two fect long, but the largeft I believe ever feén compofes
the baptifmal! font in the church of Notre Dame in Parist.
The fecond is the Concha Veneris, with large projecting

Vou. I. Dd ~ points

* Tavernier vol. I. Voyag. + Theophraflus Megastar + Clamps.

ee TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

points like fingers. The third, called the Breafts of the Vir-
gin, is a beautiful fhell, perfectly pyramidal, generally a-
bout four inches in height, and beautifully variegated with
mother-of-pearl, and green. All thefe fifhes have a pep-
pery tafte, but are not therefore reckoned the lefs whole~
fome, and they are fo much the more convenient, that they
carry that ingredient of {picealong with them for fauce, with
which travellers, like me, very feldom burden themfelves.. -

BrsipEs a number of very fine fhells, we picked up fe-
veral branches of coral, coralines, yuffer*, and many other
articles of natural hiftory. We were abundantly provided
with every thing; the weather was fair; and we never
doubted it was to continue, fo we were in great {pirits, and
only regreted that we had not, once for all, taken leave of
Coffeir, and ftood over for Jidda..

In this difpofition we failed about three o’clock in the
afternoon, and. the wind flattered us fo much, that next
day, the 17th, about eleven o’clock, we found ourfelves a-.
bout two leagues a-ftern of a {mall ifland, known to the
Pilot by the name of Jibbel Macouar. This ifland is at
leaft four miles from the fhore, and is a high land, fo that
it may be feen, I fuppofe, eight leagues at fea, but is gene-
rally confounded with the Continent. I computed myfelf to:
be about 4/ of the meridian diftant when I made the obfer-.
vation, and take its latitude to be about 24° 2’ on the centre
of the ifland.

THE

* It is. a Keratophyte, growing at the bottom of the feas.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. art

Tue land here, after running from Jibbel Siberget to
Macouar, in a direction nearly N. W. and S. E. turns round
in fhape of alarge promontory, and changes its direction to
N. E. and S. W. and ends in a fmall bay or inlet; fo that,
by fanciful people, it has been thought to refemble .the nofe
of aman, and is called by the Arabs, Ras el Anf, the Cape of
the Nofe. The mountains, within land, are of a dufky
burnt colour; broken into points, as if interfected by tor-
rents.

Tue coafting veffels from Mafuah and Suakem which are
bound to Jidda, in the ftrength of the Summer monfoon,
ftand clofe in fhore down the coaft of Abyffinia, where they
find a gentle fteady eaft wind blowing all night, and a weft
wind very often during the day, if they are near enough
the fhore, for which purpofe their veflels are built.

Brsipes this, the violent North-Eaft monfoon raking in
the direction of the Gulf, blows the water out of the Straits
of Babelmandeb into the Indian Ocean, where, being accu-
mulated, it preffles itfelf backwards; and, unable to find
way in the middle of the Channel, creeps up among the
fhallows on each coaft of the Red Sea. However long the
voyage from Mafuah to Jibbel Macouar may feem, yet thefe
gentle winds and favourable currents, if I may fo call thofe
in the fea, foon ran us down the length of that mountain,

A Larce veilel, however, does not dare to-try this, whilft
conftantly among fhoals, and clofe ona lee-fhore; but thofe
fewed together, and yielding without damage to the ftrefs,
flide over the banks of white coral, and even fometimes the
rocks. Arrived at this ifland, they fet their prow towards

Didiiz the

212 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER |

the oppofite fhore, and crofs the Channel in one night, to
the coaft of Arabia, being nearly before the wind. The
track of this extraordinary navigation 1s marked upon* the
map, and it is fo well verified, that no fhip-mafter need’
doubt it.

Asout three:o’clock in the afternoon, with a favourable’
wind and fine weather, we continued’ along the coaft, with —
an eafy fail. We faw no appearance of any inhabitants 5.
the mountains were broken and pointed, as before taking:
the direction of the coaft ; advancing and’ receding as the
fhore itfelf did. This coaftis a very. bold’ one, nor was there
in any of the iflands we had feen, fhoals or anchoring places,
unlefs upon the rock itfelf; fo that, when we landed, we:
could run our boltfprit home over the land..

Turs ifland, Jibbel Macouar, has breakers running off
from it at all points ; but, though we hauled clofe to thefe,
we had no foundings. We then went betwixt it and the
{mall ifland, that Hes 5. S. E. from it about three: miles, and.
trie? for foundings to the: leeward, but we had none, al-
though almoft touching the land. About fun-fet, I faw a
{mall fandy ifland, which we left about a league to the wett-
ward of us. It had no fhrubs;, nor trees, nor height, that
could diftinguith it. My defign was to pufh on to the river
Frat, which is reprefented'in the charts as very large and.
deep, coming from the Continent ; though, confidering by
its latitude that it is above the tropical rains, (for it is laid

. down.

——

* Vide the track of this Navigation laid down on the Chart.,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. BE

down about lat. 21° 25’), [never did believe that any fuch
river exifted. ,

In fact, we know no river, north of the fources of the
Nile, that does not fall into the Nile. “Nay, I may fay, that
not one river, in all Abyflinia, empties itfelf into the Red
Sea. The tropical rains are bounded, and finifh, in lat. 16°,
and there is no river, from the mountains, that falls into
the defert of Nubia; nor do we know of any river which
‘is tributary to the Nile, but what has its rife under the tro-
pical rains. It would be avery fingular circumftance, then,
that the Frat fhould rife in one of the dryeft places in the
globe, that it fhould be a river at leaft equal to the Nile;
and fhould maintain itfelf full in all feafons, which the Nile
does not; laft of all, in 2 country where water is fo fcarce
and precious, that it fhould not have a town or fettlement
upon it, either ancient or modern, nor that it fhould be re-
forted to by any encampment of Arabs, who might crofs
over and traffic with Jidda, which place is immediately op-
pofite.. |

On the 18th, at day-break, I was alarmed at feeing no:
land, as I had no fort of confidence in the fkill of my pilot,
however fure I was of my latitude. About an hour after
fun-fet, I obferved' a high rugged rock, whichthe pilot told
me, upon inquiry, was Jibbel, (viz. a Rock), and this was all
the fatisfaction I could. get. We bore down upon it with a
wind, {cant enough; and, about four, we came to an an-
ehor. As we had no name for that ifland, and I did not
know that any traveller had been: there before me, I ufed
the privilege by giving it my own, in memory of having
been there. The fouth of this ifland feems to be high and

tocky;,

214 THE SOURCE OF THE NILE

rocky, the north is low and ends in a tail, or floping bank,
but is exceedingly fteep to, and at the length of your
bark any way from it, you have no foundings.

Aut this morning fince before day, our pilot had begged
us to gono farther. He faid the wind had changed ; that,
by infallible figns he had feen to the fouthward, he was
confident (without any chance of being miftaken) that in
twenty-four hours we fhould have a ftorm, which would
put us in danger of fhipwreck; that Frat, which I wanted
to fee, was immediately oppofite to Jidda, fo that either a
country, or Englifh boat would run me over in a night and
a day, when 1 might procure people who had connections
in the country, fo as to be under no apprehenfion of any
accident ; but that, in the prefent track I was going, every
man that I fhould meet was my enemy. Although not
very fuiceptible of fear, my ears were never fhut againft
reafon, and to what the pilot ftated, I added in my own
breaft, that we might be blown out to fea, and-want both
water and provifion. We, therefore, dined as quickly as
poffible, and encouraged one another all we could. A little
pafter fix the wind came eafterly, and changeable, witha
thick haze over the land. This cleared about nine in the
evening, and one of the fineft and fteadieft gales that ever
blew, carried us fwiftly on, direétly for Cofleir. The fky
was full of dappled clouds, fo-that, though I, feveral times,
tried to catch a ftar in the meridian, I was always fruftrated.
The wind became frefher, but ftill very fair.

Tue roth, at day-break, we faw the land ftretching all
the way northward, and, foon after, diftinctly difcerned
; Jibbel

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE aig.

Jibbel Siberget upon our lee-bow. We had feen it indeed |
before, but had taken it for the main-land.

Arter pafling fuch an agreeable night, we could not be |
quiet, and laughed at our pilot about his perfect knowledge
of the weather. The fellow fhook his head, and faid, he
had been miftaken before now, and was always glad when
it-happened fo; but ftill we were not arrived at Coffeir,.
though he hoped and believed we fhould get there in fafety.
In a very little time the vane on the maft-head began to.
turn, firft north, then eait, then fouth, and back again to all
the points in the compafs; the fky was quite dark, with.
thick rain to the fouthward of us; then followed a moft
violent clap of thunder, but no lightning; and back again:
came the wind fair at fouth-eaft. We all looked rather down-
caft at each other, and a-general filence followed. This, how-
ever, I faw availed us nothing; we were in the fcrape, and
were to endeavour to get out of it the beft way we could..
The veffel went at a prodigious rate. The fail that was. —
made of mat happened to be new, and, filled with a ftrong
wind, weighed prodigioufly. What made this worfe, was,
the mafts were placed a little forward. The firft thing I
afked, was, if the pilot could not lower his main-fail? But
that we found impoffible, the yard being fixed to the maft-
head. The next flep was to reef it, by hauling it in part up.
like a curtain: this our pilot defired us not to attempt; for
it would endanger our foundering. Notwithftanding which,,
E defired my fervant to help me with the haulyards; and to
hold them in his hand, only giving them a turn round the
bench. This increafing the vefle?s weight above and be-
fore, as fhe already had too much preffure, made her give

% two

216 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

two pitches, the one after the other, fo that I thought fhe
was buried under the waves, and a confiderable deal of wa-
ter came in upon us. Iam fully fatisfied, had the not been —
in good order, very buoyant, and in her trim, fhe would”
have gone to the bottom, as the wind continued to blow
a hurricane. Tethas

I BEGAN now to throw off my upper coat and trowfers;
that I might endeavour to make ‘hore, if the veflel fhould
founder, whilft the fervants feemed to have given themfelves
up, and made no preparation. The pilot kept in clofe by
the land, to fee if no bight, or inlet, offered to bring up in;
but we were going with fuch violence, that I was fatif-
fied we fhould overfet if we attempted this. Every ten mi-
nutes we ran over the white coral banks, which we broke
in pieces with the grating of a file, upon iron, and, what
was the moft terrible of all, a large wave followed higher
than our ftern, curling over it, and feemed to be the inftru-
ment deftined by Providence to bury us in the abyfs. _

Our pilot began apparently to lofe his underftanding
with fright. I begged him to be fteady, perfuading him to
take a glafs of fpirits, and defired him not to difpute or
doubt any thing that I fhould do or order, for that I had
feen much more terrible nights in the ocean; I affured him,
that all harm done to his veffel fhould be repaired when
we fhould get to Coffeir, or even a new one bought for him,
if his own was much damaged. He anfwered me nothing,
but that Mahomet was the prophet of Gop.—Let him prophecy,
faid I, as long as he pleafes, but what I order you is to keep
fteady to the helm; mind the vane on the top of the matft,
and fteer ftraight before the wind, for I am refolved to cut

I | that

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 207

that main-fail to pieces, and prevent the maf from going a-
“way, and your veffel from finking to the bottom. I got no an-
fwer to this which I could hear, the wind was. fo high, ex-
cept fomething about the mercy and the merit of Sidr Ali
el Genowi. I now became violently angry. “ D—n Sidi
Ali el Genowi, faid I, you beaft, cannot you give me a ra-
tional anfwer? Stand to your helm, look at the vane; keep
the veffel flraight before the wind, or, by the great G—d
who fits in heaven, (another kind of oath than by Sidi di el
Genowi ), 1 will {hoot you dead the firft yaw the fhip gives, or
the firft time that you leave the fteerage where you are
flanding.” He anfwered only, Maloom, zc. very well.—AlIl
this-was fooner done than faid; I got the main-fail in my
arms, and, with a large knife, cut it all to fhreds, which
eafed the veffel greatly, though we were fill going ata pro-
digious rate.

Azout two o'clock the wind feemed to fail, but, half an
hour after, was more violent than ever. -At three, it fell
calm. I then encouraged my pilot, who had been very at-
tentive, and, I believe, had pretty well got through the
whole lift of faints in his calendar, and I affured him that
he fhould receive ample reparation for the lofs of his main-
fail. We now faw diftinctly the white cliffs of the two
mountains above Old Coffeir, and on the 19th, a little before
fun-fet, we arrived fafely at the New.

We, afterwards, heard how much more fortunate we had
been than fome of our fellow-failors that fame night; three
of the veffels belonging to Coffeir, loaded with wheat for
Yambo, perifhed, with all on board of them, in the gale; a-
mong thefe was the veffel that firft had the Turks on board..

Vou, I. Ke Ory This

218 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

This account was brought by Sidi Ali el Meymoum el ~
Shehrie, which fignifies ‘ Ali, the ape or monkey, from
Sheher.’ For though he was a faint, yet being in figure liker
to a monkey, they thought it proper to diftinguifh him by
that to which he bore the greateft refemblance.

We were all heartily fick of Coffeir embarkations, but the
veffel of Sidi Ali el Meymoum, tho’ fmall, was tight and well- '
rigged; had fails of canvas, and had navigated in the In-
dian Ocean; the Rais had four ftout men on board, appa-
rently good failors; he himfelf, though near fixty, was a
very active, vigorous little man, and to the full as good a
failor as he was a faint. It wason the sth of April, after ha-
ving made my laft obfervation of longitude at Coffeir, that
I embarked on board this veffel, and failed from that port.
It was neceflary to conceal from fome of my fervants our
intention of proceeding to the bottom of the Gulf, leaft,
finding themfelves among Chriftians fo near Cairo, they
might defert a voyage of which they were fick, before it
was well begun.

For the firft two days we had hazy weather, with little
wind. In the evening, the wind fell calm. We faw a high
land to the fouth-weft of us, very rugged and broken, which
feemed parallel to the coaft, and higher in the middle than
at either end. This, we conceived, was the mountain that
divides the coaft of the Red Sea from the eaftern part of the
Valley of Egypt, correfponding to Monfalout and Siout.
We brought to, in the night, behind a fmall low Cape, tho’
the wind was fair, our Kais being afraid of the Jailateen
lands, which we knew were not far a-head.

We

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 219

We caught a great quantity of fine fifh this night with
a line, fome of them weighing 14 pounds. The beft were
blue in the back, like a falmon, but their belly red, and
marked with biue round fpots. They refembled a falmon
in fhape, but the ffh was white, and not fo firm. .

In the morning of the 6th we made the Jaffateen Iflands.
They are four in number, joined by fhoals and funken rocks.
They are crooked, or bent, like half a bow, and are danger-
ous for fhips failing in the night, becaufe there feems-to
be a paflage between them, to which, when pilots are at-
tending, they neglect two {mall dangerous funk rocks, that
lie almoft in the middle of the entrance, in deep water.

I unDERSTOOD, afterwards, from the Rais, that, had it not
been from fome marks he faw of blowing weather, he
would not have come in to the Jaffateen Iflands, but ftood

directly for Tor, running between the ifland Sheduan, and
a rock which is in the middle of the channel, after you pafs

Ras Mahomet. But we lay fo perfectly quiet, the whole
night, that we could not but be grateful to the Rais for his
care, although we had feen no apparent reafon for it.

Next morning, the 7th, we’left our very quict birth in
the bay, and ftood clofe, nearly fouth-eaft, along-fide of the
two fouthermott Jaffateen Ilands, our head upon the center
of Sheduan, till we had cleared the eaftermoft of thofe
iflands about three miles. We then paffed Sheduan, leaving
it to the eaftward about three leagues, and keeping nearly
aN. N. W. courfe,to range the wéft fide of Jibbel Zeit. This
is a large defert ifland, or rock, that is about four mules
from, the main.

THE

res
o
i>)

220 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue paflage between them is practicable by fmall craft
only, whofe planks are fewed together, and are not affec-
ted by a ftroke upon hard ground; for it is not for want
of water that this navigation is dangerous. All the weit
coaft is very bold, and has more depth of water than the
eaft; but on this fide there is no anchoring ground, nor
fhoals. It is a rocky fhore, and there is depth of water eve-
ry where, yet that part is full of funken rocks; which,
though not vifible, are near enough the furface to take up
a large fhip, whofe deftru€tion thereupon becomes inevi- —
table. This I prefume arifes from one caufe. The moun-
tains on the fide of Egypt and Abyffinia are all (as we have
ftated) hard ftone, Porphyry, Granite, Alabafter, Bafaltes, and -
many forts of Marble. Thefe are all therefore fixed, and
even to the northward of lat 16°, where there is no rain,
very fmall quantities of duft or fand can ever be blown from
them into the fea. On the oppofite, or Arabian fide, the fea-
coaft of the Hejaz, and that of the Tehama, are all moving
fands; and the dry winter-monfoon from the fouth-eaft
blows a large quantity from the deferts, which is lodged a-
rnong the rocks on the Arabian fide of the Gulf, and con-
fined there by the north-eaft or fummer-monfoon, which #s:
in a contrary direction, and hinders them from coming
over, or circulating towards the Egyptian fide.

From this it happens, that the weit, or Abyffinian fide, is
full of deep water, interfperfed with funken rocks, unmafk-
ed, or uncovered with fand, with which they would other-
wife become iflands. ‘Thefe are naked and bare all-round,
and fharp like points of {pears ; while on the eaft-fide there
are rocks,indeed,as in the other, but being between the fouth- -
eait monfoon, which drives the fond into its coaft, and the

I ) north- weft

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. nas

north-weft monfoon which repels it, and keeps it in there,
every rock on the Arabian fhore becomes an s/land, and eve-
ry two or three iflands become a harbour.

Upon the ends of the principal of thefe harbours large
heaps of ftones have been piled up, to ferve as fignals, or
marks, how to enter; and it is in thefe that the large vef-
fels from Cairo to Jidda, equal in fize to our 74 gun fhips,
(but from the cifterns of mafon-work built within for hold-
ing water, I fuppofe double their weight) after navigating
their portion of the channel in the day, come fafely and
quietly to, at four o’clock in the afternoon, and in thefe
little harbours pafs the night, to fail into the channel again,
next morning at fun-rife.

THEREFORE, though in the track of my voyage to Tor, I
am feen running from the weft fide of Jibbel Zeit a W. N.
W. courfe (for I had no place for a compafs) into the har-
bour of Tor, I do not mean to do fo bad a fervice to huma-
nity as to perfuade large fhips to follow my lack. There
are two ways of inftructing men ufefully, in things abfo-
lutely unknownto them. The firftis, to teach them what
they can do fafely. Thenextis, to teach them what they
cannot do at all, or, warranted by a prefling occafion, attempt
with more or lefs danger, which fhould be explained and
placed before their eyes, for without this laft no man knows
the extent of his own powers. With this view, I will venture,
without fear of contradiction, to fay, that my courfe from -
Coffeir, or even from Jibbel Siberget, to Tor, is impoflible to
a great fhip. My voyage, painful, full of care, and danger-
ous as it was, is not to be accounted a furety for the lives of
thoufands. It may be regarded as a foundation for furveys
hereafter to be made by perfons more capable, and better

protected ;

3

922 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

protected; and in this cafe will, I hope, be found a valuable~
fragment, becaufe, whatever have been my confcientious
fears of running fervants, whe work for pay, into danger of :
lofing their lives by. peril of .the fea, yet I can fafely fay, that.
never did the-face of-man, or fear of danger to myfelf, deter
me from verifying with my eyes, what my own hands have -
put upon paper.

In the days of the Ptolémies, and, as I fhail fhew, long
before, the weft coaft of the Red Sea, where the deepeft wa-.
ter, and moft dangerous rocks are, was the track. which the
Indian and African fhips chofe, when loaded with the richeft :
merchandife that ever veffels nce carried:. The Ptolemies..
built a number of large cities on this coaft ; nor do we hear:
that fhips were obliged to abandon that track,from the dif-.
afters that befel them im the navigation. On the contrary,
they avoided the coaft of Arabia; and one reafon, among
others, is plain why they. fhould;--they were loaded with.
the moft valuable commodities, gold, ivory, gums, and pre-.
cious ftones ; room for ftowage on. board therefore was very:
valuable.

Part of this trade, when at its greateft perfection, was.
carried on in veflels with oars. We know from the prophet:
Ezekiel*, 700 years before Chrift, or 300 after Solomon had .
finifhed his trade with Africa and India, that they did not
always make ufe of fails in the track of the monfoons ; and:
coniequently a great number. of. men muft have been necef-.

fary.

%* Ezek. chap. xxvii. 6th and 2gth verfese.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 223

fary for fo tedious a voyage. A-+number of men being ne-
ceilary, a quantity of water was equally fo; and this muft
have taken up a great deal of ftowage. Now, no where on
the coaft of Abyilinia could they want water two days; and
{carce any where, on the coaft of Arabia, could they be fure
of it once in fifteen, and from this the weftern coaft was
called Ber el Ajam*, corruptly Azamia, the country of water, in
oppofition to the eaftern fhore, called Ber el Arab, where
there was none.

ADELIBERATE furvey became abfolutely neceflary, and
as in proportion to the danger of the coaft pilots became
more {kilful, when once they had obtained more com=
plete knowledge of the rocks and dangers, they.preferred
the boldeft fhore, becaufe they could ftand on all night, and
provide themfelves with water every day. Whereas, on
the Arabian fide, they could not fail but half the day, would
be obliged to lie to all night, and to load themfelves with
water, equal to half their cargo.

I now fhall undertake to point out to large fhips, the way
by which they can fafely enter the Gulf of Suez, fo as that
they may be competent judges of their own courfe, in cafe
of accident, without implicitly furrendering them{elves, and
property, into the hands of pilots.

In the firft piace, then, Iam very confident, that, taking
their departure from Jibbel el Ourée, fhips may fafely ftand
| on

* Ajan, in the language of Shepherds, fignifies ra/n-water.

224. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

on all night mid-channel, until they are in the latitude of
Yambo. |

Tue Red Sea may be divided into four parts, of which the
Channel occupies two, till about lat. 26°, or nearly that of
Coffeir. On the weft fide it is deep water, with many rocks,
as I have already faid. On the eaft fide, fhat quarter is ~
occupied by iflands, that is, fand gathered about the rocks, °
the caufes whereof I have before mentioned; between
which there are channels of very deep water, and harbours,
that protect the largeft {hips in any winds. But among thefe,.
from Mocha down to Suez, you. muft fail with a pilot, and.
during part of the day only. «

To a perfon ufed to more civilized countries, it appears.
no great hardfhip to fail with, a pilot, if you. can get one,.
and in the Red Sea there ate plenty; but thefe are creatures
without any fort of fcience, who-decide upon a manceuvre
in a moment, without forethought, or any warning given.
Such pilots often, in a large fhip deeply loaded, with.
every fail out which fhe can carry, in a very inftant cry out
to let go your anchors, and bring you to, all ftanding, in the
face of a rock, or fand.. Were not our feamen’s vigour, and
celerity in execution, infinitely beyond the fkill and forefight
of thofe pilots, I believe very few fhips, coming the inward
paflage among the iflands, would ever reach the port in
fafety:

Ir you are, however, going to Suez, without the confent
of the Sherriffe of Mecca, that is, not intending to fell your
eargo at Jidda, or pay your cuftom there, then you fhould

take.

THESOURCE OF THE NILE. 225

take in your water at Mocha; or, if any reafon fhould hin-
der you from touching that fhore, a few hours will carry.
you to Azab, or Saba, on the Abyflinian coaft, whofe latitude
I found to be 13° 5’ north. It is not a port, but a very to-
lerable road, where you have very fafe riding, under the
fhelter of a low defert ifland called Crab Ifland, with a‘ few
rocks at the end of it. But it muft be remembered, the
people are Gala, the moft treacherous and villanous wretch-
es upon theearth. They are Shepherds, who fometimes are
on the coaft in great numbers, or in the back of the hills
that run clofe along the fhore, or in miferable villages
compofed of huts, that run nearly in an eaft and weft direc-
tion from Azab to Raheeta, the largeft of all their villages.
You will there, at Azab, get plenty of water, fheep, and goats,
as alfo fome myrrh and incenfe, if you are in the proper
feafon, or will ftay for it.

I AGAIN repeat it, that no confidence is to be had in the
people. Thofe of Mocha, who even are abfolutely neceflary
to them in their commercial tranfactions, cannot truft them
without furety or hoftages. And it was but a few years be-
fore I was there, the iurgeon and mate of the Elgin Eaft-In-
dia man, with feveral other failors, were cut off, going on
fhore with a letter of fafe conduct from their Shekh to pur-
chafe myrrh. Thofe that were in the boat efcaped, but moft
of them were wounded. A {fhip, on its guard, does not fear
banditti like thefe, and you will get plenty of water and
provifion, though I am only fpeaking of it asa ftation of
neceffity.

Ir you are not afraid of being known, there is a low
black ifland on the Arabian coaft called Camaran, it is in
VoL. I Ff lat

226 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

lat. r5® 397, and is diftinguifhed by a white houfe, or fortrefs,.
on the weft end of it, where you: will procure excellent wa- _
ter, in greater plenty than at Azab; but no provifions, or
enly fuch as are-very bad. If you fhould not with to be feen,
however, on the coaft at all, among the chain of iflands that
reaches almoft acrofs the Gulf from Lohcia to Mafuah,,
there is one called-Foofht, where there is good anchorage ;
it is laid down in my map in lat. 15° 59/43” N. and long.
42° 27’ E. from: actual. obfervation taken upon the ifland..
There is here a quantity of.excellent water, with a faint or
monk to take care of it, and keep the wells clean. This.
poor creature was fo terrified at feeing us come afhore with.
fire-arms, that he lay down upon his face on the fand; nor
would he rife, or lift up his head, till the Rais had explain-.
ed to me the caufe of his fear, and till, knowing I was not:
in any danger of furprife, I had fent my guns on board...

From this to Yambo there is no fafe watering place. In--
deed if the river Frat were to be found, there is no need of any:
other watering place inthe Gulf; but it is abfolutely necef--
fary to have a pilot on board before you make Ras Mahomet;;
becaufe, over the mountains of Auche, the Elanitic Gulf, and+
the Cape itfelf, there is often a great haze, which lafts for-
many days together, and many fhips are conftantly loft, by-
miftaking the Eaftern Bay, or Elanitic Gulf, for the entrance.
of the Gulf of Suez ; the former has a reef of rocks nearly-
acrofs it.

Arrer you have made Sheduan, a large ifland three>
leagues farther, ina direction nearly north and by weft,.1s a:
bare rock, which, according to their ufual careleisnefs and:
indifference, they are not at the pains to call by any other:

naime-

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 22%

mame but 7dée/, the rock, ifland, or mountain, in general.
You fhould not come within three full leagues of that rock,
but leave it at a diftance to the weftward. You will then
fee fhoais, which form a pretty broad channel, where you
have foundings from fifteen to thirty fathoms. And again,
fianding on directly upon Tor, you have two other oval
fands with funken rocks, in the channel, between which
you are to fteer. All your danger is here in fight, for you
might go in the infide, or to the eaftward, of the many
{mall iflands you fee toward the fhore; and there are the
anchoring places of the Cairo veffels, which are marked
with the black anchor in the draught. This is the courfe
‘beft known and practifed by pilots for fhips of all fizes. But
by a draught of Mr Niebuhr, who went from Suez with
Mahomet Rais Tobal, his track with that large fhip was
through the channels, till he arrived at the point, where
Tor bore a little to the northward of eaft of him. '

Tor may be known at a diftance by two hills that ftand
near the water fide, which, in clear weather, may be feen
fix leagues off. Juft to the fouth-eaft of thefe is the town
and harbour, where there are fome palm-trees about the
houfes,the moreremarkable,that they are the firft you fee on
the coaft. There is no danger in going into Tor harbour,
the foundings in the way are clean and regular; and by
giving the beacona fmall birth on the larboard hand, you
may haul in a little to the northward, and anchor in five
or fix fathom. The bottom of the bayis not a mile from the
‘beacon, and about the fame diftance from the eppofite fhore,
There is no fenfible tide in the middle of the Gulf, but, by
the fides, it runs full two knots an hour. At fprings, it is
high water at Tor nearly at twelve o'clock.

: Fa On

228 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the oth we arrived at Tor, a fmall ftraggling village;,
with a convent of Greek Monks, belonging to Mount Sinai.
Don John de Caftro * took this town when it was walled,
and fortified, foon after the difcovery of the Indies by the
Portuguefe ; it has never fince been of any confideration. It
ferves now, only as a watering-place for fhips going to, and
from Suez. From this we have a diftinct view of the points
of the mountains Horeb and Sinai, which appear behind —
and above the others, their tops being often covered with
fnow in winter.

Tuere are three things, (now Iam at the north end of
the Arabian Gulf,) of which the reader will expect fome ac
count, and Iam heartily forry to fay, that I fear I fhall be
obliged to difappoint him in all, by the sapsepsaicaT ri rela-
tion I am forced to give.

Tue firft is, Whether the Red Sea is not higher than the
Mediterranean, by feveral feet or inches? To this I anfwer,,
That the fact has been fuppofed to be fo by antiquity, and
alledged as a reafon why Ptolemy’s canal was made from
the bottom of the Heroopolitic Gulf, rather than brought
due north acrofs the Iftthmus of Suez; in which laft cafe,
it was feared it would fubmerge a great part of Afia Miz
nor. But who has ever attempted to verify this by experi+
ment? or who is capable of fettling the difference of levels,
amounting, as fuppofed, to fome feet and inches, between
two points 120 miles diftant from each other, over a defert
that has no ) fettled furface, buti is changing its height every

ont

* Vide his Journal publifhed by Abbé Vertot.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 229

day? Befides, fince all feas are, in fact, but one, what is it
that hinders the Indian Ocean to flow to its level? What is
it that keeps the Indian Ocean up?

Tit this laft branch of the queftion is refolved, I fhall
take it for granted that no fuch’ difference of level exitts,

whatever Ptolemy’s engineers might have pretended to him;

becaufe, to fuppofe it fact, is to fuppofe the violation of one
very material law of nature.

Tue next thing I have to take notice of, for the fatisfac-
tion of my reader, is, the way by which the children of If
rael paffed the Red Sea at the time of their deliverance from
the land of Egypt.

As {cripture teaches us, that this paflage, wherever it might
be, was under the influence of a miraculous power, no parti-
cular circumftance of breadth, or depth, makes one place
likelier than another. It is amatter of mere curiofity, and
can only promote an illuftration of the {cripture, for which
reafon, I do not decline the confideration of it. .

I sHaut fuppofe, that my reader has been fufficiently con-
vinced, by other authors, that the land of Gofhen, where
the Ifraelites dwelt in Egypt, was that country lying eaft of
the Nile, and not overflowed by it, bounded by the moun-
tains of the Thebaid on the fouth, by the Nile and Medi-
terranean on the weit and north, and the Red Sea and de-
fert of Arabia on the eaft. It was the Heliopolitan nome,
its capital was Ou; from predileétion of the letter O, com-
mon to the Hebrews, they called it Gofhen ; but its proper
name was Ge/ben, the country of Grafs, or Pafturage; or of

the

230 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the Shepherds; in oppofition to the reft of the land which
was fown, after having been overflowed by the Nile.

THERE were three ways by which the children of Ifrael,
flying from Pharaoh, could have entered Paleftine. ‘The
firft was by the fea-coaft by Gaza, Aikelon,and Joppa. This
was the plaineft and neareft way; and, therefore, fitteft for
people incumbered with kneading troughs, dough, cattle,
and children. The fea-coaft was full of rich commercial
cities, the mid-land was cultivated and fown with grain,
The eaftern part, neareft the mountains, was full of cattle
and fhepherds, as rich a country, and more powerful than
the cities themfelves.

Tuis narrow valley, between the mountains and the fea,
ran all along the eaflern {hore of the Mediterranean, from
Gaza northward, comprehending the low part of Paleftine
and Syria. Now, here .a {mall number of men might have
paffed, under the laws of hofpitality; nay, they did -con-
ftantly pafs, it being the high road between Egypt, and
Tyre, and Sidon. But the cafe was different with a multi-
tude, fuch as fix hundred thoufand men having their cattle
along with them. Thefe muft have occupied the whole
land of the Philiftines, deftroyed all private property, and
undoubtedly have occafioned fome revolution; and as they
were not now intended to be put in poffeflion of the land
of promife, the meafure of the iniquity of the nations ‘be-
ing not yet full, God turned them afide from going that
way, though the neareft, leaft they “fhould fee war*,” that

2) 1S,

* Gen. chap. xiii. ver. 17th.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 225

is, leaft the people fhould rife againft them, and deftroy
them. - :

THERE was another way which led fouth-weft, upon Beer-.
fheba: and Hebron, in the middle; between the Dead Sea and:
the Mediterranean. This was the direction in which Abra--
ham; Lot, and Jacob, are fuppofed to have reachedEgypt. But.
there was neither food nor water there to fuftain the Ifrael-.
ites. When Abraham and Lot returned out of Egypt, they
were obliged to feparate by confent, becaufe Abraham faid.
to his brother, “The land will not bear us both*.”’

Tue third way was ftraight eaft into Arabia, pretty-much:
the road by which the Pilgrims go at this day to Mecca,,.
and the caravans from Suez to Cairo.. In this track they
would have gone round by the mountains of Moab, eaft of
the Dead Sea, and paffed- Jordan in the plain oppofite to Jeri--
cho, as they did forty years afterwards. But it is plain from:
fcripture, that God’s counfels were to make Pharaoh and:
his Egyptians an example of his vengeance; and, as none:
of thefe roads led to the fea, they did not anfwer the Divine:
untention..

AsourT twelve leagues from the fea, there was a narrow
road which turned to the right, between the mountains,
through a valley called Badeah, where their courfe was near-
ly fouth-eaft; this valley ended in a’ pafs, between two con-
fiderable mountains, called Gewoube on the fouth; and Jibbel
Attakah on. the north, and opened into the low ftripe. of

country

* Gen. chap, xiii, ver. 6th. Exod. chap, xiii. ver.17th..-

232 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

country which runs all along the Red Sea; and the Ifraelites
were ordered to encamp at Pihahiroth, oppofite to Baal-zeph-
on, between Migdol and that fea,

Ir will be neceflary to explain thefe names. Badeab, Dr
Shaw interprets, the Valley of the Miracle, but this is forcing an
etymology, for there was yet no miracle wrought, nor was
there ever any in the valley. But Badeah, means barren, bare,
and uninhabited; fach as we may imagine avalley between
ftony mountains, a defert valley. fibbel Aitakab, he tranflates
alfo, the Mountain of Deliverance. But fo far were the [raelites
from being delivered on their arrival at this mountain, that
they were then in the greateft diftrefs and danger. ditakab,
means, however, to arrive or come up with, either becaufe there
they arrived within fight of the Red Sea; or, as I am rather
inclined to think, this place took its name from the arrival
of Pharaoh, or his coming in fight of the Ifraelites, when
encamped between Migdol and the Red Sea,

PIHAHIROTH 1s the mouth of the valley, opening to the
flat country and the fea, as I have already faid, fuch are
called Mouths; in the Arabic, Fum; as I have obferved in my
journey to Coffeir, where the opening of the valley is called
Fum el Beder, the mouth of Beder; Fum el Terfowey, the mauth
of Terfowey. Whoreth, the flat country along the Red Sea,
is fo called from Hor, a narrow valley where torrents run,
occafioned by fudden irregular fhowers. Such we have al-
ready defcribed on the eaft fide of the mountains, border-
ing upon that narrow flat country along the Red Sea, where
temporary fhowers fall in great abundance, while none of
them touch the weft fide of the mountains or valley of

Egypt.

?

EREYOOURCEH OF THE NILE, 233;

Egypt. Pihahiroth then is the mouth of the valley Badealy;
which opens to-Hhoreth, the narrow. ftripe of land. where
fhowers fall.

Baat-Zeruon, the God‘of the watch-tower, was, proba-
bly, fome idol’s temple, which ferved for a fignal-houfe up-
on the Cape which-forms the north-entrance of the bay op-
pofite to Jibbel Attakah, where there is ftill a mofque, or
faints tomb. It was probably a light-houfe, for the direc-
tion of fhips: going to the bottom of the Gulf, to prevent
aiftaking it for another. foul’ bay, under the high land,.
where there is alfo a tomb ofa faint called Abou Derage..

Tue laft rebuke God gave to Pharaoh, by flaying all the’
firft-born, feems to have made a {trong impreflion upon the
Egyptians.. Seripture fays, that the people were now urgent
with the Ifraelites to be gone, for they faid, “ We be all:
dead men*.’ And we need not-.doubt, it was in order to
keep up in their hearts a: motive of refentment, {trong e-
nough to make them purfue the Ifraelites, that God caufed
the Ifraelites to borrow, and’ take away. the jewels of the
Egyptians; without fome new:caufe of. anger, the late ter-
rible chaftifement might have deterred them. While, there-
fore, they journeyed eaftward towards the defert, the Egyp-
tians had no motive to attack them, becaufe they went with
permiffion there to facrifice, and were on.their return.to.
reftore them their moveables.. But-when the Iraelites were
obferved turning to the fouth, among the mountains, .they

Vor. I. Gg | were

*-Exod. ch, xii. 33..

7

234 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

were then fuppofed to flee without a view of returning, be-
caufe they had left the way of the defert; and therefore
Pharaoh, that he might induce the Egyptians to follow
them, tells them that the Lfraelités were now entangled a-
mong the mountains, and the wildernefs behind them,
which was really the cafe, when they encamped at Pihahi-
roth, before, or fouth of Baal-Zephon, between Migdol and
the fea. Here, then, before Migdol, the fea was divided,
and they paffed over dry fhod to the wildernefs of Shur,
which was immediately oppofite to them; a fpace fome-
thing lefs than four leagues, and fo eafily accomplithed in
one night, without any miraculous interpofition.

TureeE days they were without water, which would bring
them to Korondel, where is a {pring of brackifh, or bitter
water, to this day, which probably were the waters ofMarah*,

Tue natives ftill call this part of the fea Bahar Kolzum,
or the Sea of Deftruction ; and juft oppofite to Pihahiroth is
a bay, where the North Cape is called Ras Mufa, or the Cape
of Mofes,evennow. ‘Thefe are the reafons why I believe
the paflage of the Iraelites to have been in this direction.
There is about fourteen fathom of water in the channel,
and about nine in the fides, and good anchorage every
where; the fartheft fide is a low fandy coaft, and a-very
eafy landing-place. The draught of the bottom of the Gulf
given by Do¢tor Pococke is very erroneous, in every part of
it.

Ir was propofed to Mr Niebuhr, when in Fgypt, to in-
quire, upon the fpot, Whether there were not fome ridges

of

* Such is the tradition among the Natives,

THEWBOURCEOMTHE NILE. 235

of rocks, where the water was fhallow, fo that an army at
particular times might pafs over? Secondly, Whether the
Etefian winds, which blow ftrongly all Summer from the
north weit, could not blow fo violently againft the fea, as to.
keep it back on a heap, fo that the Ifraelites might have pafled:
without a miracle? And a copy of thefe queries was left for:
me, to join my inquiries likewife.

But I muft confefs, however learned the gentlemen:
were who propofed thefe doubts, I did not think they me-.
rited any attention to folve them. This paflage is told us,
by fcripture, to bea miraculous one; and, if fo, we have no-.
thing to do with natural caufes. If we do not believe
Mofes, we need not believe the tranfaction at all, feeing
that it is from his authority alone we derive it. If we be-.
lieve in God that he made the fea, we mutt believe he could.
divide it when he fees proper reafon, and of that he muft be
the only judge. It is no greater miracle to divide the Red:
Sea, than to divide the river of Jordan.

Ir the Etefian wind blowing from the north-weft in fum-
mer, could heap up the fea as a wall, on the right, or to
the fouth, of fifty feet high, ftill the difficulty would remain,,
of building the wall on the left hand, or to the north. Be-.
fides, water ftanding in that pofition for a day, muft have
loft the nature of fluid) Whence came that cohefion of.
particles, that hindered that wall to efcape at the fides ? This,
is as greata miracle as that of Mofes. If the Etefian winds
had done this once, they muft have repeated it many a
time before and fince, from the fame caufes.. Yet, * Dio-

Gg 2 dorus

* Diod. Sic, Lib, 3. pr 1225.

236 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

dorus Siculus fays, the Troglodytes, the indigenous inhabi- ~
tants of that very fpot, had a tradition from father to fon,
from their very earlieft and remoteft ages, that once this
divifion of the fea did happen there, and that after leaving
its bottom fometimes dry, the fea again came back, and co-
vered it with great fury. The words of this author are of
the moft remarkable kind. We cannot think this heathen
is writing in favour of revelation. He knew not Mofes, :
nor fays a word about Pharaoh, and his hoft; but records
the miracle of the divifion of the fea, in words nearly as
ftrong as thofe of Mofes, from the mouths of unbiafied, un-
defigning Pagans.

‘Were all thefe difficulties furmounted, what could we
do with the pillar of fire? The anfwer is, We fhould not
believe it. Why then believe the paflage at all? We have no
authority for the one, but what is for the other; it is alto-
gether contrary to the ordinary nature of things, and if not
a miracle, it muft be a fable.

Tue caufe of the feveral names of the Red Sea, is a fub-
ject of more liberal inquiry. Iam of opinion, that it cer-
tainly derived its name from Edom, long and early its
powerful matter, that word fignifying Red in Hebrew. It
formerly went by the name of Sea of Edom, or Idumea;
fince, by that of the Red Sea.

Ir has been obferved, indeed, that not only the Arabian
Gulf, but part of the Indian Ocean *, went by this name,
though

* Dionyfii Periegefis, v. 38. et Comment. Enuftathii in eundem. Strabo, lib. xvi.
p- 765. Agathemeri Geographia, lib. ii, cap. 11.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 237

though far diftant from Idumea. This is true, but when
we confider, as we {hall do in the courfe of this ‘hiftory, that
the matters of that fea were ftill the Edomites, who went
from the one fea directly in the fame voyage'to the other,
we fhall not difpute the propriety of.extending the name to
part of the Indian Ocean alfo. As for what fanciful people *
have faid of any rednefs in the fea itfelf, or colour in the
bottom, the reader may affure himfelf all this is fiction, the
‘Red Sea being in colour nothing-different from the Indian,
-or any other Ocean.

‘THERE is greater difficulty in affigning a -reafon for the
‘Hebrew name, Yam Suph; properly fo called, fay learned
‘authors, from the quantity of weeds init. But I muft con-
fefs, in contradiction to this, that I never in my life, (and I
hhave feen the whole extent of it) faw a weed of any fort in
it; and, indeed, upon the flighteft confideration, it will oc-
cur te any one, that a narrow gulf, under the immediate
influence of monfoons, blowing from contrary points fix
months each year, would have too much agitation to pro-
duce fuch vegetables, feldom found, but in ftagnant waters,
and feldomer, if ever, fowhd in falt ones. My opinion then
is, that it is from the + large trees, or plants of white coral,
{pread every where over the bottom of the Red Sea, per-
fectly in imitation of plants on land, that the fea has ob-
tained this name. If not, I fairly confefs I have not any
other conjecture to make.

No

- * Ferome Lebo, the greateft liar of the Jefuits, ch. iv. p..46. Englith tranflation.
+ I faw one of thefe, which, from a root nearly central, threw out ramifications in &
aeerly circular form, meafuring twenty-fix feet diameter every way~

238 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER —

No fea, or fhores, I believe, in the world, abound more in
fubjects of Natural Hiftory than the Red Sea. -I fuppofe I
have drawings and fubjects of this kind, equal in bulk to
the journal of the whole voyage itfelf. But the vaft ex-
pence in engraving, as well as other confiderations, will
probably hinder for ever the Apitiiihe of she work. in
this particular. vd

Mery
GO."

Ss ere

CHAP.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 239
SS OES SS
CHAP. x.

Sail from Tor —Pafs the Elanitic Gulf—See Raddua—Arrive at Yambs
—AIncidents there—Arrive at Fidda.

UR Rais, having difpatched his bufinefs, was. eager to
depart ; and, accordingly, on the 11th of April, at day-
break, we ftood out of the harbour of Tor. At firft, we
were becalmed in, at the point of the Bay fouth of Tor
town, but the wind frefhening about eight o’clock, we ftood
through the channels of the firft four fhoals, and then be-
tween a {maller one. We made the mouth of a {mall Bay,
formed by Cape Mahomet, and a low fandy point to the eaft-
ward of it. Our veffel feemed to be a capital one for {fail-
ing, and | did every thing in my power to keep our Rais in
good humour.
AsoutT half a mile from the fandy point, we ftruck upon
a coral bank, which, though it was not of any great con-
fiftence or folidity, did not fail to make our maft nod. As
I was looking out forward when the veffel touched, and
the Rais by me, I cried out in Arabic, “ Get out of the way
you dog!” the Rais, thinking my difcourfe directed to him,
feemed very much furprifed, and afked, “ what I meant ?”
ae. “Why

&

240 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

“ ‘Why did you not tell me, faid I, when I hired you, that ail!
the rocks in the fea would get.out of the way of your vef--
fel? This ill-mannered fellow here did not. dow bis duty ;.
he was fleeping I fuppofe, and has given us a hearty jolt,.
and Iwas abufing him for it, till you fhould chaftife him

fome other way.” He fhook his head, and faid, “ Well!.
you do not believe, but God. knows the truth; well now-

where is the rock? Why-he is gone.” However, very pru--
dently, he anchored foon afterwards, though we had recei—
ved no damage.

At night, by an obfervatiom of. two {tars in the meridian,,

I concluded the latitude of Cape Mahomet to be 27° 54’, N..
It muft be underftood of the mountain, or high.Jland; which
forms the Cape, not the low point. The ridge of: rocks
that run along behind Tor, bound that low fandy. country,
called the Defert of Sin, to: the eaftward; and end in this
Cape, which: is the high land obferved at fea; but the
lower part, or fouthermoft extreme of the Cape, runs a
bout three leagues off from the high land; and is fo low,
that it cannot be feen from deck above three leagues. It
was called, by the ancients, Pharan Promontorium ; not bes
caufe there was a-light-houfe* upon the end of it, (though
this may have perhaps been the cafe, and a very neceflaryand
proper fituation it-is) but from the Egyptian and Arabic word.
Farek +, which fignifies to divide, as being the point, or high:
land that divides.the Gulf of Suez from the Elanitic Gulf..
I wenr

* Anciently called Pharos.
+The Koran is, therefore, called Z/ Fackan, or the Divider, or Diftinguither between tree
faith and herefy.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 245

I went afhore here to gather fhells, and fhot a fmall ani-

‘malamong the rocks, called Daman Hrael, or If{rael’s Lamb;
~I donot know why, for it has no refemblance to the fheep
kind. I take it to be the faphan of the Hebrew Scripture,

which we tranflate by the coney. I have given a drawing,

and defcription of it, in its proper place*. I fhot, likewife,
feveral dozens of gooto, the leaft beautiful of the kind I had
feen, being very fmall, and coloured like the back of a part-
ridge, but very indifferent food.

Tue 12th, we failed from Cape Mahomet, juft as the fun
appeared. We paffed the ifland of Tyrone, in the mouth of
the Elanitic Gulf, which divides it near equally into two;
or, rather the north-weft fide is narroweft. ‘The direction
ef the Gulf is nearly north and fouth. I judge it to be
about fix leagues over. Many of the Cairo fhips are loft
in miftaking the entry of the Elanitic for that of the Heroo-
politic Gulf, or Gulf of Suez ; for, from the ifland of Tyrone,
which is not above two leagues from the Main, there runs
a ftring of iflands, which feem to make a femicircular bar
acrofs the entry from the point, where a fhip, going with
a fouth wind, would take its departure; and this range of
iflands ends in a fhoal with funken rocks, which reaches
near five leagues from the Main. It is probable, that, upon
thefe iflands, the fleet of Rehoboam perifhed, when failing
for the expedition of Ophir +.

Vor... Hh I TAKE

* See the article Afhkoko in the Appendix. + 2 Chron. chap, xx. yer. 37th,

242 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I rake Tyrone to be the ifland of Safpirene of Ptolemy,
though this geographer has erred a little, pe in its lati+
tude and longitude.

hi

We paffed the fecond of thefe iflands, called Senaffer,
about three leagues to the northward, fteering with a
frefh gale at fouth-eaft, upon a triangular ifland that has
three pointed eminences upon its fouth-fide. We paffed
another {mall ifland which has no name, about the fame ~
diftance as the former; and ranged along three black rocks,
the fouth-weft of the ifland, called Swfange el Bahar, or the Sea-
Spunge. As our veflel made fome water, and the wind had been
very {trong all the afternoon, the Rais wanted to bring up,
to the leeward of this ifland, or between this, and a cape of
land called Ras Selah; but, not being able to find foundings
here, he fet fail again, doubled the point, and came to an<
chor under the fouth cape of a fine bay, which is a ftation
of the Emir Hadje, called Kalaat el Moilah, the Caftle, or Sta-
tion of Water.

We had failed this day about twenty-one leagues ; and,
as we had very fair and fine weather, and were under no
1ort of concern whatever, I could not neglect attending to
the difpofition of thefe iflands, in a very {plendid map late-
ly publifhed. They are carried too far into the Gulf.

Tue 13th, the Rais having, in the night, remedied what
was faulty in his veflel, fet fail about feven o’clock in the
morning. We paffed a conical hill on the land, called
Abou Jubbé, where 1s the fepulchre of a faint of that name.
The mountains here are at a confiderable diftance ; and no-
thing can be more defolate and bare than the coaft. In

the

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 243

the afternoon, we came to an anchor at a place called Kel-
la Clarega, after having paffed an ifland called Jibbel Nu-
man, about a league from the fhore. By the fide of this
fhoal we caught a quantity of good fifth, and a great num-
ber alfo very beautiful, and perfectly unknown, but which,
when roafted, fhrank away to nothing except fkin, and
when boiled, diflolved into a kind of blueifh glue.

On the 14th, the wind was variable till near ten o’clock,
after which it became a little fair. At twelve it was as fa-
vourable as we could wifh; it blew however but faintly.
We paffed firft by one ifland furrounded by breakers, and
then by three more, and anchored clofe to the fhore, at a
place called Jibbel Shekh, or the Mountain of the Saint.
Here I refolved to take a walk on fhore to ftretch my limbs,
and fee if I could procure any game, to afford us fome va-
riety of food. I had my gun loaded with ball, when a vat
flock of gooto got up before me, not five hundred yards
from the fhore. As they lighted very near me, I lay down
among the bent grafs, to draw the charge, and load with
fmall fhot. While I was doing this, I faw two antelopes,
which, by their manner of walking and feeding, did not
feem to be frightened. I returned my balls into the gun,
and refolved to be clofe among the bent, till they fhould
appear before me.

I wap been quiet for fome minutes, when I heard behind
me fomething like a perfon breathing, on which I turned
about, and, not without great furprife, and fome little fear,
faw a man, ftanding juft over me. I ftarted up, while the
man, who had a little ftick only in his hand, ran two or
three fteps backwards, and then flood. He was almoft per-

Fi ha fectly

244 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fetly naked: he had half a yard of coarfe rag only wrapr
round his middle, and a crooked knife ftuck in it, I afked ©
him who he was? He faid he was an Arab; belonging ta
Shekh Abd el Macaber.. Lthen defired to know where his
mafter was? He replied, he was at the hill a little above,
with camels that were going to Yambo. He then, in his,
turn, afked who I was?.I told him I was an Abyflinian flave-
of the Sherriffe of Mecca, was going to Cairo by fea, but wifh-.
ed much to fpeak to his mafter,.if he would go and bring
him. The favage went away with great willingnefs, and
he no fooner difappeared, than I. fet out as quickly: as pofli-
ble to.the boat, and we got her hauled out beyond the
fhoals, where we pafled the night. We faw afterwards dif-
tinctly about fifty men, and three or four camels ; the men
made feveral figns:to us, but we were perfectly content with
the diftance that was between us, and fought no more to
kill antelopes in the neighbourhood of Sidi Abd el Maca-.
ber.

I woutp not have it imagined, that my cafe- was abfo--
lutely defperate, even if I had been known as a,Chriftian, and
fallen into the hands of thefe Arabs, of Arabia Deferta, or
Arabia Petrea, fuppofed to be the moft barbarous people in
the world, as indeed they probably are. Hofpitality, and
attention to one’s word, feem in thefe countries-to, be in pro- _
portion to the degree in which the people are favage. A very
eafy method is known, and followed: with conftant fuccefs,
by all the Chriftians trading to the Red Sea from Suez to
Jidda, to fave themfelves if thrown on the coaft of Arabia,
Any man of confideration from any tribe among the Arabs,
comes to Cairo, gives his name and defignation to the Chrif-
tian failor, and receives a very fmall prefent, which is re-

peated

THESOURCE OF THENILE. ig
peated annually if he’ performs fo often the voyage. And
for this the Arab promifes the Chriftian his protection,

fhould he ever be fo unfortunate as to be fhipwrecked on:
their coaft. ,

Tue Turks are very bad feamen, and lofe many fhips;.
the greateft part of the crew are therefore Chriftians; when:
a veflel ftrikes, or is afhore, the Turks are all maflacred if
they cannot make their way good by force; but the Chrif-
tians prefent themfelves to the Arab, crying Piarduc, which
means, ‘ we are under immediate protection.’ If they are afk~
ed; who is their Gaffeer, or Arab,_ with whom they are in:
friendfhip? They anfwer, Mahomet Abdelcader is our Gaf-
feer, or any other. Ifhe is not there, you are told he is:
abfent fo many days journey off, or any:diftance.. This ac-:
quaintance or neighbour, then helps you, to fave what you
have from’ the wreck, and one of: theni with his lance
draws a circle, large enough to hold you and yours. He:
then fticks his lance in the fand, bids-you abide within that.
circle, and goes and brings your Gaffeer, with what camels:
you want, and this Gaffeer.is obliged, by rules known only:
to themfelves,.to carry you for nothing, or very little, where-
ever you go, and to furnifh you with provifions all the way..
Within that circle you-are as fafe on the defert coaft of Ara-
bia, as in a citadel ; there is no example or exception to the
contrary that has ever yet been known. ‘There are many
Arabs, who, from fituation, near dangerous fhoals or places,,
where fhips often perifh (as between Ras Mahemet and Ras:
Selah, * Dar el Hamra, and fome others) ‘have perhaps fifty

or”

*See the Map.

246 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

or a hundred Chriftians, who have;been fo protected: So

that when this Arab marries a daughter, he gives perhaps
his revenue from four or five protected Chriftians, as part
of his daughter’s portion. I had, at that very time, a Gaf-

eer, called Ibn Talil, an Arab of Harb tribe, and I fhould

have been detained perhaps three days till he came from

near Medina, and carried me (had I been fhipwrecked) to,
Yambo, where I was going.

On the 15th we came to an anchor at El Har*, where
we faw high, craggy, and broken mountains, called the
Mountains of Ruddua. ‘Thefe abound with fprings of wa-
ter; all fort of Arabian and African fruits grow here in per-
fection, and every kind of vegetable that they will take
the pains to cultivate. It is the paradife of the people of
Yambo; thofe of any fubftance have country houfes there ;
but, flrange to tell, they flay there but for a fhort time, and
prefer the bare, dry, and burning fands about Yambo, to one
of the fineft climates, and moft verdant pleafant countries,
that exiftsin the world. The people of the place have told
me, that water freezes there in winter, and that there are
fome of the inhabitants who have red hair, and biue eyes,
a thing {carcely ever feen but in the coldeft mountains in
the Eaft.

Tue 16th, about ten o'clock, we pafled a mofque, or
Shekh’s tomb on the main land, on our left hand, called
Kubbet Yambo, and before eleven we anchored in the mouth

P of.

——aee”

* El Har fignifes extreme heat.

ae

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 249

of the port in deep water. Yambo, corruptly called Imbo,
is an ancient city, now dwindled to.a paultryvillage. Ptolemy
calls it Iambia Vicus, or the village Yambia; a proof it was
of no great importance in histime. But after the conqueft
of Egypt under Sultan Selim, it became a valuable ftation,
for fupplyimg their conquefts in Arabia, with warlike ftores,
from Suez, and for the importation of wheat from Egypt to
their garrifons, and the holy places of Mecca and Medina.
On this account, a large caftle was built there by Sinan Ba-
fha; for the ancient Yambo of Ptolemy is not that which is
called fo at this day. ‘It'is fix miles farther fouth; and is
called Yambo el Nachel, or, Yambo among the palm-trees,’
a great quantity of ground being there covered with this
fort of plantation,

Yamso, in the language of the country, fignifies a foun-
tain or fpring, a very copious one of excellent water being
found there among the date trees, and it is one of the fta-
tions of the Emir Hadje in going to, and coming from Mec-
ca. The advantage of the port, however, which the other
has not, and the protection of the caftle, have carried tra-
ding veffels to the modern Yambo, where there is no water,
but what is brought from pools dug-on purpofe to receive
the rain when it falls.

Tuere are two hundred janiffaries in the caftle, the def
eendents of thofe brought thither by Sinan Bafha; who
have fucceeded their fathers, in the way I have obferved they
did at Syené, and, indeed, in all the conquefts in Arabia,
and Egypt. Theinhabitants of Yambo are defervedly reck-

4 oned

248 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER”

ned * the moft barbarous of any upon the Red Sea, and
the janiffaries keep pace with them, in every kind of malice
and violence. ._We did not go afhore all that day, becaufe
we had heard a number of fhots, and had received intelli-
gence from fhore, that the janiffaries and town’s people,
for a week, had been fighting together; I was very unwil-
ling to interfere, withing that they might have all leifure
to extirpate one another, if poflible; and.my Rais feemed:
mot heartily to join me in my withes.

In the evening, the captain of the port. came on board, -
and brought two janiflaries with him, whom, with fome dif-
ficulty, I fuffered to enter the veflel. Their firft demand
was gun-powder, which I pofitively refufed.. Ithen afked
them how many were killed in the eight days they had
been engaged? They anfwered, with fome indifference, not
many, about a hundred every day, or a few lefs or more,
chiefly Arabs. ‘We heard afterwards, when we came on
fhore, one only had been wounded, and that a foldier, by a
fall from his horfe. They infifted upon bringing the vef-
fel into the port ; but I told them, on the contrary, that ha-
ving no bufinefs at Yambo, and being by no means under
the guns of their caftle, I was at liberty to put to fea with-
out coming afhore at all; therefore, if they did not leave us,
as the wind was favourable, I would fail, and, by force, carry —
them toJidda. The janiffaries began to talk, as their cuftom is,
jn a very bluftering and warlike tone; but I, who knew my
intereft at Jidda, and the force in my own hand; that my

veflel

* Vide Irvine’s letters¢

Rh.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 249

veflel was afloat, and could be under weigh in an inftant,
never was lefs difpofed to be bullied, than at that moment.
They afked me a thoufand queftions, whether I was a Ma-
maluke, whether I was a Turk, or whether I was an Arab,
and why I did not give them {pirits and tobacco? To all
which I anfwered, only, that they fhould know to-morrow
who I was; then I ordered the Emir Bahar, the captain of
the port, to carry them afhore at his peril, or I would take >
their arms from them, and confine them on board all night.

Tue Rais gave the captain of the port a private hint, ‘to

take care what they did, for they might lofe their lives;

and that private caution, underftood in a‘different way per-
haps than was meant, had effect upon the foldiers, to make
them withdraw immediately. When they went away, I
begged the Emir Bahar to make my compliments to his
matters, Hafflan and Huffein, Agas, to know what time I

- fheuld wait upon them ‘to-morrow; and .defired him, in

the mean time, to keep his foldiers afhore, as I was not dit-
pofed to be troubled with their infclence.

Soon after they went, we heard a great firing, and faw
lights all over the town; and the Rais propofed to me to
flip immediately, and fet fail, from which meafure I was not
at allaverfe. But, as he faid, we hada better anchoring
place under the mofque of the Shekh, and, befides, that
there we would be in a place of fafety, by reafon of the ho-
linefs of the faint, and that at our own choice might even
put to fea in a moment, or ftay till to-morrow, as we were
in no fort of doubt of being able to repel, force by force, if
attacked, we got under weigh for a few hundred yards,

Vou. I Ti and

f
2:50 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and dropt our anchor under the fhrine of one of the great--
eft faints in the world.

At night the firing had abated, the lights diminithed;,
and the captain of the port again came on-board. He was
furprifed at mifling us at our former anchoring place, and
ftill more fo, when, on our hearing the noife of his oars, we

hailed, and forbade him to advance any nearer, till he °

fhould tell us how many he had on board, or whether he
had foldiers or not, otherwife we fhould fire upon them: to.
this he anfwered, that there were only himfelf, his boy, and’
three officers, fervants to the Aga. I replied, that three
ftrangers were too many at that time of the night, but,,
fince they were come from the Aga, they might advance...

ALL our people were fitting togetherarmed on the fore-.
part of the veffel; I foon divined they intended us no:
harm, for they gave us the falute Salam Alicum! before they:
were within ten yards of. us.. I anfwered with great com-
placency ; we handed them: on board, and fet them down.
upon deck. The three officers were genteel young men,
of a fickly appearance, drefled in the fafhion of the count-
ry, in long burnoofes loofely hanging about them, ftrip-
ed with red and white; they wore a turban of red, green,
and white, with ten thoufand taffels and fringes hang-
ing down to the fmall of their backs.. They had in their

hand, each, a fhort javelin, the fhaft not above four feet and ~

a half long, with an iron head about nine inches, and two
er three iron hooks below the fhaft, which was bound
round with brafs-wire, in feveral places, and {hod with iron
at the farther end..

; THEY,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 25

-Tury afked me where I came from ? I faid, from Conftan-
tinople, laft from Cairo; but begged they would put no
more queftions to me, as I was not at liberty to anfwer them.
They faid they had orders from their mafters to bid me wel-
come, if I was the perfon that had been recommended to
them by the Sherriffe, and was Ali Bey’s phyfician at Cairo.
I faid, if Metical Aga had advifed them of that, then I was
theman. They replied he had, and were come to bid me
welcome, and attend me on {hore to their mafters, when-
ever! pleafed. I begged them to carry my humble refpects
to their mafters ; and told them, though I did not doubt of
their protection in any fhape, yet I could not think it confift- —
ent with ordinary prudence, to rifk myfelf at ten o’clock at
night,in a town fo full of diforder as Yambo appeared to have
been for fome time, and-where fo little regard was paid to
difcipline or command, as to fight with one another. They
faid that was true, and I might do as I pleafed; but the firing
that I had heard did not proceed from fighting, but from
their rejoicing upon making peace.

In fhort, we found, that, upon fome difcuffion, the gar-
rifon and townfmen had been fighting for feveral days, in
which diforders the greateft part of the ammunition in the
town had been expended, but it had fince been agreed on
by the old men of both parties, that no body had been to
blame on cither fide, but the whoie wrong was the work of
a Camel. A camel, therefore, was feized, and brought with-
out the town, and there a number on both fides having met,
‘they upbraided the camel with every thing that had been
either faid or done. The camel had killed men, he had
threatened to fet the town on fire; the came/ had threatened
to burn the Aga’s houfe, and the caftle; /e had curfed the

Ii2 Grand

52 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

Grand Signior, and the Sherriffe of Mecca, tlre fovereigns-
of: the two parties; and, the only thing ‘the poor animat
was interefted.in, 4e had threatened -to deilroy the wheat
that was going to Mecca. After having {pent great part of
the afternoon in upbraiding the: came, whofe meafure of in-
iquity, it feems, was near full, each man thruift him throughs
with a lance, devoting him: Dis manibus & Diris, by a kind of. _
prayer, and with a thoufand curfes upon his head. After
which, every man retired, fully fatisfied as.to the wrongs.
he hadreceived from the camel...

Tue reader: will eafily obferve in this, fome traces of the
*azazel, or fcape-goat of the Jews, which was turned oud
into the wildernefs, loaded with the fins of the people.

Next morning I-went:tothe palace, as we call it, in which
were fome very handfome apartments. ‘Fhere was a guaré
of janiflaries at the door, who, being warriors, lately come
from the bloody battle with. the camel, did not fail to fheva
marks of infolence, which they wifhed to be miftaken for-
courage: :

Tue two Agas were fitting on a high bench upon Perfiaw
carpets; and about forty well-drefledand well-looking men,
{many of them old) fitting on carpets upon: the floor, in a:
femi-circle round them. They behaved with: great polite-
nefs and attention, and afked no queftions bus. general ones ;.
as, How the fea agreed with me? If there.was plenty at Gairo®

tilly

‘

* Leyit. chap.xvl..vera5e

TreescoGuR CE Or (CRE NIME. 253

- tilll was going away, when the youngeft of the Agas ins
quired, with a feeming degree of diffidence, Whether Mas
homet Bey Abou Dahab, was ready to march? As I knew
well what this quefltion meant, I anfwered, I know not if
he is ready, he has made great preparations. Theother Aga
faid, I hope you will be a meflenger of peace? I anfwered;
I intreat you to afk me no queftions; I liope, by the grace of
God, all will go well. Every perfon prefent applauded the
fpeech;-agreed to refpect my fecret, as they .fuppofed I had
one, and they all were inclined to believe, that Iwas a maz
in: the confidence of Ali Bey, and that his hoftile defigns
againft Mecca were laid afide: this was juft what I withed
them to fuppofe; for it fecured me againfl ill-ufage all the
time I chofe to ftay there ; and of thisIhad a proof in the
inftant, for a very good es was provided for me by ie
Aga, and a man of his fent to. ee me. to it.

I wonpDeEReED ‘the Rais had‘not come home with me; whoj.
in about half an hour after I had got into my houfe, came
and told me; that, when the captain: of the boat came om
board the firfttime with the. two foldiers, he had put a note,
which they call ti/fkera, into his hand, prefling hima into. the
Sherriffe’s - fervice, to: carry wheat to fidda, and; with the
wheat, anumber of poor pilgrims that -;were going to Mecca,
at the Sherriffe’s expence.:. Finding us,. however; out of the.
harbour; and, fufpecting from our manners and. carriage:
towards the janiffaries, that we were people who knew what:
we had to truft to, he had taken the two foldiers.a-fhore:
with him, who were by no means fond_of their reception,
or inclined to ftay in fuch company; and, indeed, our dreffes.
and appearances in‘the boat were fully as likely to make
firangers believe we fhould rob them,-as theirs were to. im-

Di prefs

254 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

prefs us with an apprehenfion that they would rob us. The
Rais faid alfo, that, after my audience, the Aga had called
upon him, and taken away the é/Rera, telling him he was
free, and to obey nobody but me; and fent me one of his
fervants to fit at the door, with orders toadmit nobody but
whom I pleafed, and that I might not be troubled with the

people of Yambo. > )

HituerTo all was well; but it had been with me an ob-
fervation, which had conftantly held good, that too profper-
‘ous beginnings in thefe countries always ended in ill at the
laft. I was therefore refolved to ufe my profperity with
great temperance and caution, make myfelf as flrong, and
ufe my ftrength as little, as it was poffible for me to do.

THERE was.a man of confiderable weight in Aleppo,
named *Sidi Ali Taraboloufli, who was a great friend of Dr
Ruffel, our phyfician, through whom I became acquainted
with him. He was an intimate friend and acquaintance of
the cadi of Medina, and had given me a letter to him,
recommending me, in a very particular manner, to his pro-
tection and fervices. I inquired about this perfon, and was
told he was in town, directing the diftribution of the corn
to be fent to his capital. Upon my inquiry, the news were
carried to him as foon almoft as his name was uttered; on
which, being defirous of knowing what fort of man I was,
about eight o’clock in the evening he fent me a meflage,

and, immediately after, I received a vifit from him.
; Iwas

—E oe “. es

% Native of Tripoli : it is Turkith,

THEISOURCE OF THE NILE. °° ag¢-

I was putting my telefcopes and time-keeper in order,
and had forbid admittance to any one; but this was fo holy
_and fo dignified a perfon, that all doors were open to him..
He obferved me working about the great telefcope and
quadrant in my fhirt, for it was hot beyond conception upon.
the fmallef exertion. Without making any apology for the
intrufion at all, he broke out into exclamation, how lucky
he was ! and, without regarding me, he went from telefcope:
to clock, from clock to quadrant, and from that tothe ther-
mometer, crying, 4b tibe, ab tibe! This is fine, this is fine!-
He fearcely looked upon me, or feemed tothink I was worth.
his attention, but touched every thing fo carefully, and.
handled fo properly the brafs cover of the alidade, which.
inclofed the horfe-hair with the plummet, that he feemed:
to be a man more than ordinarily verfed in the ufe of aftro-.
nomical inftruments. In fhort, not to repeat ufelefs matter:
to the reader, I found he had ftudied at Conftantinople, un--
derftood the principles of geometry very tolerably, was ma-
fter of Euclid fo far as it regarded plain trigonometry; the:
demonftrations of which he rattled off fo rapidly, that it
was impoffible to follow, or to-underftand him. He knew:
nothing of fpherics, and all his aftronomy refolved itfelf at.
laft into maxims of judicial aftrology, firft and fecond houfes ;
of the planets and afcendancies, very much in the ftyle of:
common almanacks..

He defired that my door might be open to him at all
times, efpecially when I made obfervations ; he alfo knew
perfectly the divifion of our clocks, and begged he might:
count time for me.. All this was eafily granted, andI had
from him, what was moft ufeful; a hiftory of the fituation.
ef the government of the place, by which ! learned,
2. Reda:

94,
ony

ee

_ gant re

Se and that ere: was a foreigner, or a Sua ,
going to India, who had difappeared, but, as he be
been privately put to death in Dafonyer for Ae
after been heard 8 |
erie cannot fay 1 relifhed this account, ot
the very beft face poflible, “ Here, in a garrifon t
‘I, with very worthlefs: foldiers, they might do.
pleafed with fix or feven ftran gers, but I do not fe
I now tell them, and the people of Yambo, all and ez
ao te had better: hes in- nent bed oe of he: plague,

As as you can.” “ As fhort time as pof iiibte ies: sf id a
hhomet; although Ido not fear wick
meen fo much as to flay Jon, B with th

“! SREY oak ie) URED AY
- Brey canter es a

Hs hex atked n mea favour, that I would ae

nike that none tae one fiould go, anc
--him even into the fa, if he baad ri
-ever, afterwards he fent three ; it whc
‘ten to be thrown into the fea, as he had permitted. i hel ede
friend, faid J, I have done every thing that you have a =
ed, though. favours fh ‘thould have begun with you upon —

3 : your

5 y 7 j
a il Sa i i 12

ay

J
OV COS

De

ES}

Ss

C
7

Wp

DCI

ee

Til
LB,

(
D tbe

)

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 257

your own principle, asI am the ftranger. Now, what I have
to afk you is this;--Do you know the Shekh of Beder Hu-

_ nein? Know him! fays he, I am married to his fifter, a

daughter of Harb ; he is of the tribe of Harb.” “ Harb be
it then (faid I) your trouble will be the lefs; then you are to
fend a camel to-your brother-in-law, who will procure me
the largeft, and moft perfect plant pofflible of the Balfam of
Mecca. He is not to break the ftem, nor even the branches,
but to pack it entire, with fruit and flower, if poffible, and
wrap it in a mat.” He looked cunning, fhrugged up his
fhoulders, drew up his mouth, and putting his finger to his
nofe, faid, “Enough, I know all about this, you fhall find
what fort of aman lam,Iam no fool, as you fhall fee.”

I rREcfe1vep this the third day at dinner, but the flower
{if there had been any) was rubbed off. The fruit was in
feveral ftages, and in great perfection. The drawing, and
defcription from this *plant, will, I hope, for ever cbviate
all difficulty about its hiftory. He fent me, likewife, a quart

bottle of the pure balfam, as it had flowed that year from
the tree, with which I have verified what the old botanifts in

their writings have faid of it, in its feveral flages. He told
me alfo the circumftances I have related inmy defcription of
the balfam, as to the gathering and preparing of the feveral
kinds of it, and a.curious anecdote-as to its origin. He faid
the plant was no part of the creation of God in the fix days,
but that, in the laft of three very bloody battles, which Ma-_
homet fought with the noble Arabs of Harb, and his kinf-

Vou, I. Kk men

* See the asticle Baleffan in the Appendix.

258 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

men the Beni Koreifh, then Pagans at Beder Hunein, that
Mahomet prayed to God, and a grove of balfam-trees grew
up from the blood of the flain upon the field of battle; and,
that with the balfam that flowed from them he touched
_the wounds even of thofe that were dead, and all thofe pre-
deftined to be good Muffulmen afterwards, immediately came
to life. “I hope, faid I, friend, that the other things you
told me of it, are fully as true as this, for they will other- -
wife laugh at me in England.” “No,.no, fays he, not half
fo true, nor a quarter fo true, there is nothing in the world
fo certain as this.” But his looks, and his laughing very
heartily, fhewed me plainly he knew better, as indeed moft.
of them do. :

In the evening, before we departed, about nine o’clock,,
IT had an unexpected vifit from the youngeft of the two
Agas; who, after many pretended complaints of ficknefs,
and injunctions of fecrecy, at laft modefly requefted me to
give him fome /low foifon, that might kill bis brother, without
fufpicion, and after fome time fhould elapfe. I told him,
fuch propofals were not to be made to a man like me; that
all the gold, and all the filver in the world, would not en-
gage me to poifon the pooreft vagrant in the ftreet, fuppo-
fing it never was to be fufpected, or known but to my own
heart. All he faid, was, “Then your manners are not the
fame as ours.”---I anfwered, dryly, “ Mine, 1 thank God, are
not,’ and fo we parted..

Yamso, or at leaft the prefent town of that name, I found,
by many obfervations of the fun and ftars, to be in latitude
24° 3’ 36” north, and in long. 38° 16’ 30” eaft from the meri-
dian of Greenwich. The barometer, at its higheft, on the 23d

of

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. a6

of April, was 27° 8’, and, the loweft on the 27th, was 26°11’.
The thermometer, on the 24th of April, at two o’clock in
the afternoon, ftood at 91°, and the loweft was 66° in the
morning of the 26th of fame month. Yambo is reputed
very unwholefome, but there were no epidemical difeafes —
when I was there.

Tue many delays of loading the wheat, the defire of
doubling the quantity I had permitted, in which both the Rais
and my friend the cadi confpired for their mutual interett,
detained me at Yambo all the 27th of April, very much a-
gainft my inclination. For I was not a little uneafy at

thinking among what banditti I lived, whofe daily with was
to rob and murder me, from which they were reftrained
by fear only ; and this, a fit of drunkennefs, or a piece of
bad news, fuch as a report of Ali Bey’s death, might remove
in a moment. Indeed we were allowed to want nothing.
A fheep, fome bad beer, and fome very good wheat-bread,
were delivered to us every day from the Aga, which, with
_ dates and honey, and a variety of prefents from thofe that
I attended as a phyfician, made us pafs our time comfort-
ably enough; we went frequently in the boats to fith at
fea, and, as I had brought with me three fizgigs of differ-
ent fizes, with the proper lines, I feldom returned without
killing four or five dolphins. The fport with the line was
likewife excellent. We caught a number of beautiful fifth
from the very houfe where we lodged, and fome few good
ones. We had vinegar in plenty at Yambo; onions, and
feveral other greens, from Raddua; and, being all cooks, we
lived well.

Kk2 On

260 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the 28th of April, in the morning, I failed with a car-
go of wheat that did not belong to me, and three paflengers,
inftead of one, for whom only I had undertaken. The wind
was fair, and I faw one advantage of allowing the Rais to:
load, was, that he was determined to carry fail to make a-
mends for the delay. There was a tumbling, difagreeable
fwell, and the wind feemed dying away. One of our paf-

fengers was very fick. At his requeft, we anchored at |

Dyar, a round fmall port, whofe entrance is at the north-eatft..
tris about three fathoms deep throughout, unlefs juft upon
the fouth fide, and perfectly fheltered from every wind. We
faw here, for the firft time, feveral plants of rack tree, grow-
ing confiderably within the fea-mark, in fome places with

two feet of water upon the trunk. I found the latitude of

Djar to be 23° 36’ 9” north. The mountains of Beder Hu-
nein were §. 8. W. of us. es

Tue 29th, at five o’clock in the morning, we failed from
Djar. At eight, we pafled a fmall cape called * Ras el Him-
ma; and the wind turning ftill more freth, we paffed a kind
ef harbour called Maibeed, where there is an anchoring
place named ElHorma. The fun was in the meridian when
we pafied this; and I found, by obfervation, El Horma was.
in lat. 23° 0’ 30” north. At ten we paffed a mountain on
land called Soub; at two, the fmall port of Muftura, under
a mountain whofe name is Hajoub; at half paft four we
came to an anchor at a place called Harar. The wind had
been contrary all the night, being fouth-eaft, and rather

| : frefh’;

* Cape Fever

a a

THEMOURCE OF THE NILE, 26%

frefh; we thought, too, we perceived a current fetting firong-
ly to the weftward.

_ On the joth we failed at eight in the morning, but the
wind was unfavourable, and we made little way. We were
furrounded with a great many fharks, fome of which feem-
ed to be large. Though I had no line but upon the fmall
fizgigs for dolphims, I could not refrain from attempting
one of the largeft, for they were fo bold, that fome of them,
we thought, intended to leap on board. I ftruck one of the
moft forward of them, juft at the joining of the neck ; but
as we were not practifed enough in laying our Hne, fo as to
run out without hitching, he leaped above two feet out of
the water, then plunged down with prodigious violence,
and our line taking hold of fomething ftanding in the way,
the cord fnapped afunder, and away went the fhark. All
the others difappeared in an inftant; but the Rais faid, as
foon as they fmelled the blood, they would not leave the.
wounded one, till they had torn him to pieces. I was truly
forry for the lofs of my tackle, as the two others were real-—
ly liker harpoons, and not fo manageable. But the Rais,
whom I had ftudied to keep in very good humour, and had
befriended in every thing, was an old harpooner in the
Indian Ocean, and he pulled out from his hold-a compleat
apparatus. He not only had a {mall harpoon like my firft,
but better conftructed. He had, likewife, feveral hooks
with long chains and lines, and a wheel with a long hair
line to it, like a fmall windlafs, to which he equally fixed
the line of the harpoon, and thofe of the hooks. This was
a compliment he faw I took very kindly, and did not
doubt it would be rewarded in the proper time.

THE

262 ° TRAVELS TO DISCOVER :

Tue wind frefhening and turning fairer, at noon we
brought to, within fight of Rabac, and at one o’clock an-
chored there. Rabac is a {mall port in lat. 22° 35’ 30” north.
The entry is E. N. E. and is about a quarter of a mile broad.
The port extends itfelf to the eaft, and is about two miles
long. The mountains are about three leagues to the north,
and the town of Rabac about four miles north by eaft from

the entrance to the harbour. We remained all day, the firft ©

of May, in the port, making a drawing of the harbour. The
night of our anchoring there, the Emir Hadje of the pilgrims
from Mecca encamped about three miles off. We heard
his evening gun. )

Tue paffengers that had been fick, now infifted upon go-
ing to fee the Hadje; but as I knew the confequence would
be, that a number of fanatic wild people would be down
upon us, I told him plainly, if he went from the boat, he
fhould not again be received ; and that we would haul out
of the port, and anchor in the offing; this kept him with
us. But all next day he was in very bad humour, repeat-
ing frequently, to himfelf, that he deferved all this for em-
barking with infidels.

Tue people came down to us from Rabac with water.
melons, and fkins full of water. All fhips may be fup-
plied here plentifully from wells near the town; the wa-
ter is not bad.

Tue country is level, and feemingly uncultivated, but
has not fo defert a look as about Yambo. I fhould fufpect
by its appearance, and the frefhnefs of its water, that it

rained

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 163

rained at times in.the mountains here, for we were now
confiderably within the tropic, which paffles very vear as
-el Himma, whereas Rabac is half a degree to the fouth-
ward. 3

On the 2d, at five o’clock in the morning, we failed from
Rabac, with a very little wind, fcarcely making two knots
an hour.

Ar half paft nine, Deneb bore eaft and by fouth from us.
This place is known by a few palm-trees. The port is
fmall, and very indifferent, at leaft for fix months of the
year, becaufe it lies open to the fouth, and there is a pro-
digious fwell here. ;

Ar one o’clock we paffled an ifland: called Hammel, a-
‘ bout a mile off; at the fame time, another ifland, El Me-
mifk, bore eaft of us, about three miles, where there is good
anchorage.

Ar three and three quarters, we paffed an ifland called
Gawad, a mile and a quarter fouth-eaft of us. The main
bore likewife fouth-eaft, diftant fomething more than a
league. We here changed our courfe from fouth to W. S. W.
and at four o’clock came to an anchor at the {mall ifland of
Lajack.

Tue 3d, we failed at half paft four in the morning, our
courfe W. S. W. but it fell calm ; after having made about a
league, we found ourfelves off Ras Hateba, or the Woody
Cape, which bore due eaft of us. After doubling the cape,

. 4 the

r . ree i
at amy , ;
- ate! $ ‘
uae he
ure ~

264 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER |

the wind frefhening, at four o’clock in the afternoon we
anchored in the port of Jidda, clofe upon the key, where
the officers of the cuftom-houfe immediately fenk poffeflion
of our ees

~ . P , ‘ “ |
rr.
CHAP.
Sf
j iy
f.
= c7(}
‘: iv
tp, EG
‘
- \ : +
: : ae
“ y gh
, >
night .
i
= q
yeas
- : nol
i ns ae me
~~ i t | iis -
) h f ye ~ 5 ie
BR a Fath

SOURCE OF THE NILE. 265

CHAP. XL

Occurrences at Fidda—Vifit of the Vizir—-Alarm of the Faftory——Great
Civility of the Englih trading from India—Polygamy—Opinion of
Dr Arbuthnot ill-founded—Conirary to Reafon and_.Experiencom
Leave Fidda. ;

HE port of Jidda is a very extenfive one, confifting of
numberlefs fhoals, {mall ilands, and funken rocks,

with channels, however, between them, and deep water.
You are very fafe in Jidda harbour, whatever wind blows,
as there are numberlefs fhoals which prevent the water
from ever being put into any general motion; and you may
moor head and ftern, with twenty anchors out if you pleate.
But the danger of being loit, I conceive, lies in the going in
and coming out of the harbour. Indeed the obfervation
is here verified, the more dangerous the port, the abler the pi-
lots, and no accidents ever happen. :
Tuere is a draught of the harbour of Jidda handed about
among the Englifh for many years, very inaccurately, and
very ill laid down, from what authority | know not, often
condemned, but never corrected ; as alfo a pretended chart
of the upper part of the Guif, from Jidda to Mocha, fulhof
foundings. Asi was fome months at Jidda, kindly enter-
Vou. I. gah > tamed,

266 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

tained, and had abundance of time, Captain Thornhill, and
fome other of the gentlemen trading thither, wifhed me
to make a furvey of the harbour, and promifed me the
affiftance of their officers, boats, and crews. I very. wil-.
lingly undertook it to oblige them. Finding afterwards,
however, that one of their number, Captain Newland, had.
undertaken it, and that he would be hurt by my interfering,
as he was in fome manner advanced in the work, I gave
up all further thoughts of the plan. He was a man of real.
ingenuity and capacity, as well as very humane, well beha-.
haved, and one to whom I had been indebted for every fort
of attention.

Gop forgive thofe who have taken upon them, very:
lately, to ingraft a number of new foundings upon that
miferable bundle of errors, that Chart of the upper part
of the Gulf from Jidda to Mocha, which has been tofled
about the Red Sea thefe twenty years.and upwards. One
of thefe, fince my return to Europe, has been fent to
me new drefled like a bride, with all its original and mor-
tal fins upon its head. I would beg leave to be under-
ftood, that there is not in the world aman more averfe than
I am to give offence even to a child.. It is not in the fpirit
of criticifm I fpeak this. In any other cafe, I] would not
have made any obfervations at all. But, where the lives
and properties of fo many are at ftake yearly, it is a f{pecies
of treafon to conceal one’s fentiments, if the publifhing of
them can any way contribute to fafety, whatever offence it
may give to unreafonable individuals.

Or all the vefiels in Jidda, two only had their log lines
properly divided, and yet all were fo fond of their fuppofed
ACCULACY, ,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 267

accuracy, as to aver they had kept their courfe within five
leagues, between India and Babelmandeb. Yet they had
made no eftimation of the currents without the * Babs, nor
the different very ftrong ones foon after pafling Socotra ;
their half-minute glafles upon a medium ran 57”; they had
made no obfervation on the tides or currents in the Red
Sea, either in the channel or in the inward paflage ; yet
there is delineated in this map acourfe of Captain Newland’s,
which he kept in the middle of the channel, full of fharp
angles and {hort ftretches; you would think every yard
was meafured and founded.

To the fpurious catalogue of foundings found in the old
chart above mentioned, there is added a double proportion
of new, from what authority is not known; fo that from
Mocha, to lat. 17° you have as it were foundings every
mile, or even lefs. No one can caft his eyes on the upper
part of the map, but muft think the Red Sea one of the moft
frequented places in the world. Yet I will aver, without fear
of being contradicted, that it is a characteriftic of the Red
Sea, fcarce to have foundings in any part of the channel,
and often on both fides, whilft afhore foundings are hardly
found a boat-length from the main. To this I will add, that
there is fcarce one ifland upon which I ever was, where the
boltfprit was not over the land, while there were no found-
ings by a line heaved over the ftern. I muft then proteft
againft making thefe old moft erroneous maps a founda-
tion for new ones, as they can be of no ufe, but mutt be of

Lil detriment.

* This is a common failor’s phrafe for the Straits of Babelmandeb.

268 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

detriment. Many good feamen of knowledge and enter-.

prife have been in that fea, within-thefe few years. Let them.
fay, candidly, what were their inftruments, what their dif.

ficulties were, where they had doubts, where they fucceed

ed, and where they were difappointed ?: Were thefe acknow-

ledged by one, they would be {peedily taken up by others; ,

and rectified by the help of mathematicians and good ob-.

fervers on fhore.

ne

Mr Niesuure has contributed much, but we fhould reforny
the map on both fides ; though-there is a great deal done, .
yet much remains ftill todo. I hope that my friend Mr -
Dalrymple, when he can afford time,-will give us a founda-
tion more proper to build upon, than that old rotten one}
however changed in form, and fuppofed to have been im-
proved, if he really has a number of obfervations by him
that can be relied on, otherwife it is-but continuing the |
delufion and the danger. _

Ir {hips of war afterwards, that keep the channel, fhall :
come, manned with {tout and able feamen, and expert young ©
officers, provided with lines, glaffes, good compafies, and-a -
number of boats, then we fhall know thefe foundings, at
leaft in part. And: then alfo we fhall-know the truth of
what I now advance, viz. that fhips like thofe employed
hitherto in trading from India -(manned-and provided. as
the beft of them are) were incapable, amidft unknown tides
and currents, and going before a monfoon, whether fourth
ern or northern, of knowing within three leagues where:
any one of them had ever dropt his founding line, unlefs he »
was clofe on board fome ifland, fhoal, remarkable point, or. ;
in a harbour.

2 TILL

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 269

Tit that time, I would advife every man failing in the
Red Sea, efpecially in the channel, where the pilots know
no more than he, to truit to his own hands for fafety in the
minute of danger, to heave the lead..at leaft every hour,
Keep a good look-out, and fhorten fail in a frefh wind, or in
the night-time, and to. confider all maps of the channel of
the Arabian Gulf, yet made, as matters. of mere curiofity,

_and not fit to truft a man’s life to. Any captain in the India

fervice, who had run over from Jidda into the mouth of
the river’ Frat, and the neighbouring port Kilfit, which
might every year be done for L. 10 Sterling extra expences,
would do..more meritorious fervice to the navigation of that
fea, than all the foundings that were ever yet made from Jib-
bel Zekir to the ifland of Sheduan. .

From Yambo to Jidda I had flept little, making my mé -
moranda as full upon the fpot as poilible. I had, befides, -
an aguifh diforder, which very much troubled me, and ,in
drefs and-cleanlinefs was fo like a Galiongy (or Turkith fea-
man) that the * Emir Bahar was aftonifhed at hearing my
fervants fay | was an Englifhman, at the time they carried
away all my baggage and inftruments to the cuftom-houle. -
He fent his fervant, however, with meto the Bengal-houfe, .
who promifed me; in broken Englith, all the way, a very
magnificent reception from my countrymen. . Upon his -
naming all the captains for my choice, I -defired to be car-
ried to a Scotchman, a relation of my own, who was-then acci-
dentally leaning over the rail of .the ftaix-cafe, leading, up

to

* Captain of the port.--

270 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

to his apartment. I faluted him by his name; he fell into
a violent rage, calling me villain, thief, cheat, and renegado rafcal ;
and declared, if I offered to proceed a ftep further, he would
throw me over ftairs. I went away without reply, his cur-
fes and abufe followed me long afterwards. The fervant,
my conductor, {crewed his mouth, and fhrugged up his
fhoulders. “ Never fear, fays he, I will carry you to the ef
of them all.” We went up an oppofite ftair-cafe, whilft thought |
within myfelf, if thofe are their India manners, I fhall keep
my name and fituation to myfelf while I am at Jidda. I
ftood in no need of them, as I had credit for 1ocofequins and
more, if I fhould want it, upon Youfef Cabil, Vizir or Gover-
nor of Jidda.

I was conducted into a large room, where Captain Thorn-
hill was fitting, in a white callico waiftcoat, a very high-
pointed white cotton night-cap, with a large tumbler of
water before him, feemingly very deep in thought. The
Emir Bahar’s fervant brought me forward by the hand, a
little within the door; but I was not defirous of advancing
much farther, for fear of the falutation of being thrown
down ftairs again. He looked very fteadily, but not ftern-
ly, at me; and defired the fervant to go away and {hut the
door. “ Sir, fays he, are you an Englifhman?”’---I bowed.—-
“ You furely are fick, you fhould be in your bed, have you
been long fick?”---I faid, “ long Sir,” and bowed.—-“ Are you
wanting a paflage to India?”--I again bowed.---“ Well, fays
he, you look to be a man in diftrefs ; if you have a fecret,
I fhall refpect it till you pleafe to tell it me, but if you want
a paflage to India, apply to no one but Thornhill of the Bengal
merchant. Perhaps you are afraid of fomebody, if fo, afk for
Mr Greig, my lieutenant, he will carry you on board my fhip

directly,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 27%:

directly, where you will be fafe.”---“ Sir, {aid I, I hope you.
will find me an honeft man, I have no enemy that I know,
either in Jidda or elfewhere, nor do Lowe any man any
thing.’---“I am fure, fays he, 1 am doing wrong, in keeping
a poor man ftanding, who ought to be in his bed. Here!.
Philip! Philip!”---Philip appeared. “Boy, fays he, in Portu--
guefe, which, as I imagine, he fuppofed I did not under-.
ftand; here is a poor Enghifhman, that fhould be either in.
his bed or his grave; carry him tothe cook, tell him to give.
him as much broth and mutton as he can eat; the lw
feems to have been ftarved, but I would rather have the.
feeding of ten to India, than.the burying of one at Jidda.”

PHILIP DELA Cruzwas the fon of a Portuguefe lady, whom
Captain Thornhill had married; a boy of great talents, and
excellent difpofition, who carfied me with great willingnefs
to the cook. I made as aukward a bow as I could to Capt.
Thornhill, and faid, “God will return this to your honour.
fome day.” Philip carried me into a.court-yard, where they
ufed to expofe the famples of their India goods in large
bales. It hada portico along the left-hand fide of it, which
feemed defigned for a ftable. To this place I was introduced,
and thither the cook brought me my dinner. Several of -
the Erglifh from the veffels, lafcars, and others, came in to:
look at me; andl heard it, in general, agreed among them,
that I was a very thief-like fellow, and certainly a Turk,
and d——n them if they fhould like to.fall into my hands..

I rexx faft afleep upon the mat, while Philip was order-.
mg me another apartment. Inthe mean time, fome of-
my people had followed the baggage to the Cuftom-houfe,.
and fome of them ftaid.on board the boat, to prevent: the

Le pilfering

+ tnt oe

72 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

plfering of what was left. The keys had remained with
mie, and the Vizir had gone to fleep, as is ufual, about mid-
day. As foon as he awaked, being greedy of his prey, he
fell immediately to my baggage, wondering that fuch a
quantity of it, and that boxes in fuch a curious form, fhould
belong to. a mean man like me; he was therefore full of |
hopes, that a fine opportunity for pillage was now at hand.

He afked for the keysof the trunks, my fervant faid, they.
were with me, but he would go inftantly and bring them.

That, however, was too long to ftay; no delay could poffi-

bly be granted. Accuftomed to pilfer, they did not force

the locks, but, very artift like, took off the hinges at the

back, and in that manner opened the lids, without opening

the locks.

Tue firt thing that prefented itfelf to the Vizir’s fight,
was the firman of the Grand Signior, magnificently written
and titled, and the infcription powdered with gold duft, and
wiapped in green taffeta. After this was a white fattin bag,
addreffed to the Khan of Tartary, with which Mr Peyfionel,
French con{ful of Smyrna, had favoured me, and which I had
not delivered, asthe Khan was then prifoner at Rhodes. The
next was a green and gold filk bag, with letters directed to
the Sherriffe of Mecca; and then came a plain crimfon-fattin
bag, with letters addreffed to Metical Aga, fword-bearer (or
Selictar, as it is cailed) of the Sherriffe, or his. great minifter
and favourite. He then found a letter from Ali Bey to him-
felr, written with all the fuperiority of a Prince to a flave.

In this letter the Bey told him plainly, that he heard the
governments of Jidda, Mecca, and other States of the Sher-
rite, were diforderly, and that merchants, coming about

their

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 273

their lawful bufinefs, were plundered, terrified, and detain-
ed. He therefore intimated to him, that if any fuch thing
happened to me, he fhould not write or complain, but he
would fend and punifh the affront at the very gates of Mec-
ca. This was very unpleafant language to the Vizir, be-

- caufe it was now publicly known, that Mahomet Bey Abou

Dahab was preparing next year to march againft Mecca,
for fome offence the Bey had taken at the Sherriffe. There
was alfo another letter to him from Ibrahim Sikakeen,
chief of the merchants at Cairo, ordering him to furnifh me
with a thoufand fequins for my prefent ufe, and, if more
were needed, totake my bill. -

TueEse contents of the trunk were fo unexpected, that Ca-
bil the Vizir thought he had gone too far, and called my
fervant ina violent hurry, upbraiding him, for not telling
who I was. The fervant defended himfelf, by faying, that
neither he, nor his people about him, would fo much as re-
gard a word that he fpoke; and the cadi of Medina’s prin-
cipal fervant, who had come with the wheat, told the Vizir
plainly to his face, that he had given him warning enough,
if his pride would have fuffered him to hear it.

ALL was now wrong, my fervant was ordered to nail up
the hinges, but he declared it would be the laft action of
his life; that nobody opened baggage that way, but with
intention of ftealing, when the keys could be got; and,
as there were many rich things in the trunk, intended as
prefents to the Sherriffe, and Metical Aga, which might
have been taken out, by the hinges being forced off before
he came, he wafhed his hands of the whole procedure, but

Voz. I, Mm knew

274 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

knew his mafter would complain, and loudly too, and would:
be heard both at Cairo and Jidda.. The Vizir.took his refo-

lution in a moment likea man. He nailed up the baggage,.
ordered his horfe to be brought, and attended by a num-.
ber of naked’ blackguards (whom: they call foldiers) he came
down to the Bengal houfe,.on. which the whole factory took.
alarm...

Asout twenty-fix years before, the Englifhi traders from:
India, to Jidda, fourteen in number, were all murdered, fit--
ting at dinner, by amutiny of thefe wild people. The houfe:
has, ever fince, lain in ruins, having been pulled down andi
forbidden to. be rebuilt. :

GREAT. inquiry was. madé-after-the Englifh nobleman,,
whom nobody had feen; but it was faid that.one of his.
fervants was there in the Bengal houfe ; I was fitting drink--
ing coffee on the mat, when the Vizir’s horfe came, and.
the whole court was filled.. One of the clerks of the cuf-
tom-houfe afked, me where my mafter was? I. faid, “ In.
heaven.” The Emir Bahar’s fervant now brought forward.
the Vizir to me, who had not: difmounted himfelf. He re-
peated the fame queftion, where my mafter was ?—I told
him, I did not know the purport of ‘his: queftion, that I was
the perfon to whom the baggage belonged, which he-had:
taken to-the cuftom-houfe, and that it was in my favour the
Grand Signior and Bey, had ‘written. He feemed very much
furprifed, and:afked me how I could appear in fuch a drefs?’
—* You cannot afk that-ferioufly, faid I; 1 believe no pru-.
dent man would drefs better, confidering the voyage I
have made.. But, befides, you did not leave it in my power,

as

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 275

as every article, but what I have on me, has been thefe four
hours.at the cuftom-houfe, waiting your pleafure.”

We then went allup to our kind landlord, Captain
Thornhill, to whom I made my excufe, on acount of the ill
ufage Thad firft met with from my own relation. He laugh-
ed very heartily at the narrative, and from that time we
lived in the greateft friendfhip and confidence. All was
made up, even with Youfef Cabil; and all heads were em-
ployed to get the ftrongeft letters poffible to the Naybe of
Mafuah, the king of Abyflinia, Michael Suhul the minifter,
and the king of Sennaar.

Mericat Aca, great friend and protector of the Englith
at Jidda, and in effe&t, we may fay, /old to them, for the great
prefents and profits he received, was himfelf originally
an Abyflinian flave, was the man of confidence, and directed
the fale of the king’s, and Michael’s gold, ivory, civet, and
fuch precious commodities, that are paid to them in kind;
he furnifhed Michael, likewife, with returns in fire-arms ; -
and this had enabled Michael to fubdue Abyffinia, murder
the king his mafter, and feat another on his throne.

Ow the other hand, the Naybe of Mafuah, whofe ifland
belonged to the Grand Signior, and was an appendage
of the government of the Bafha of Jidda, had endea-
voured to withdraw himfelf from his allegiance, andi fet
up for independency. He paid no tribute, nor could-the
Bafha, who had no troops, force him, as he was on the Abyf-
finian fide of the Red Sea. Metical Aga, however, and the
Bafha, at laft agreed; the latter ceded to the former the
ifland and territory of Mafuah, tor a fixed fum annually;

Mm 2 and

276 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and: Metical Aga appointed Michael, governor of Tigré, re-
ceiver of his rents. The Naybe no fooner found that
he was to account to Michael, than he was glad to pay
his tribute, and give prefents to the bargain; for Tigré was
the province from which he drew his fuftenance; and.Mi-.
ehael could have over-run his whole territory in eight-days, ,
which once, as we fhall fee hereafter, belonged to Abyfli+
nia. Méetical’s power being then univerfally acknowledg-
ed and known, the next thing was to get him to make ufé
of it in my favour.

WE knew of how little avail the ordinary futile recom-
mendations of letters were. We were veteran travellers,
and knew the ftyle of the Eaft too well, tobe duped by let-
ters of mere civility. There is-no people on the earth more
perfectly polite in their correfpondence with one another,
than are thofe of the Eaft; but their civility means little
more than the fame fort of expreffions do in Europe, to
fhew you that the writer-is a-well-bred man. But this
would by no means do in a.journey fo long, fo dangerous,
and fo ferious as mine.. ) |

We, therefore, fét about procuring effective letters,
letters. of bufinefs and engagement, between: man’ and
man; and we all endeavoured to make Metical Aga a very:
goodman, but no great head-piece, comprehend this per-
fetly. My letters from Ali Bey opened the affair to him,
and firft commanded his attention. A very handfome pre-
fent of piftols, which I brought him, inclined him in my
favour, becaufe, as I was bearer of letters from his fuperior;
I might have declined beftowing any prefent upon him.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 277

Tue Englith gentlemen joined their influence, powerful
enough, to have accomplifhed a much greater end, as every
one of thefe have feparate friends for their own affairs, and
all of them were defirous to befriend me. Added to thefe
was a friend of mine, whom I had known at Aleppo, Ali
Zimzimiah, 7. e. ‘keeper of the holy well at Mecca, a poft of
great dignity and honour. This man was a mathematician,
and an aftronomer, aceonding to their degree of knowledge
in that {cience.

Aut the letters were written in a ftyle fuch as I could:
have defired, but this did not fuffice in the mind of a very
friendly and worthy man, who had taken an attachment
to me fince my firft arrival. This was Captain Thomas
Price, of the Lion of Bombay. He firft propofed to Metical
Aga, to fend a man of his own with me, together with the
letters, and I do firmly believe, under Providence, it was to
this laft meafure I owed my lfe.. With this Captain Thorn-
hill heartily concurred, and an Abyflinian, called Mahomet
Gibberti, was appointed to go with particular letters be-
fides thofe I carried myfelf, and to be an eye-witnefs of my
reception there..

TueRE was fome time neceflary for this man to make
ready, and a confiderable part of the Arabian Gulf ftill re-
mained for me to explore. I prepared, therefore, to fet out
from Jidda, after having made a confiderable ftay in it.

Or all the new things I yet had feen, what moft aftonifh-
ed me was the manner in which trade was carried on at
this place. Nine fhips were there from India; fome of them
worth, I fuppofe, L. 200,000. One merchant, a Turk, living

at:

278 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

cat Mecca, thirty hours journey off, where no Chriftian dares
go, whilft the whole Continent is open to the Turk for
efcape, offers to purchafe the cargoes .of four outof nine of
thefe fhips himfelf ; another, of the fame -caft, comes and
fays, he will buy none, unlefs he has them all. The fam-
ples are fhewn, and the cargoes of the whole nine fhips are
carried into the wildeft part of Arabia, by men with whom
one would not with to truft himfelf alone in the field. This
is not all, two India brokers come into the room to fettle the
price. -One on the part of the India captain, the other on
that of the buyer the Turk. They are neither Mahometans
nor Chriftians, but have credit with both. They fitdown on
the carpet, and take an India fhawl, which they carry on
their fhoulder, like a napkin, and fpread it over their hands.
They taik, in the mean time, indifferent converfation, of the
arrival of fhips from India, or of the news of the day, as if
they were employed in no ferious bufinefs whatever. After
about twenty minutes {pent in handling each others fingers
below the fhawl, the bargain is concluded, fay for nine fhips,
without one word ever having been fpoken on the fubject,
or pen or ink ufed in any fhape whatever. There never was
one inftance of a difpute happening in thee fales.

Bur this is not yet all, the money is to be paid. A pri-
vate Moor, who has nothing to fupport him but his cha-
racter, becomes refponfible for the payment of thefe car-
goes ; his name was Ibrahim Saraf when I was there, 7 «4
lbrahim the Broker. This man delivers a number of coarfe
hempen bags, full of what is fuppofed to be money. He
marks the contents upon the bag, and puts his feal upon
the ftring that ties the mouth of it. This is received for
what is marked upon it, without any one ever having open-

ed

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 279:

ed one of the bags, and, in India, it is current for the value-
marked upon it, as long as the bag laits..

Jippa is very unwholefome, as is, indeed, all the eaft:
coaft of the Red:'Sea. Immediately without the gate of that:
town, to the eaftward, is a defert plain filled with the huts
of the Bedowéens, or country Arabs, built of long bundles.
of fpartum, or bent grafs, put together like fafcines. Thefe
Bedoweéens fupply Jidda with milk and butter. There is-
no ftirring out of town, even for a walk, unlefs for about |
half a mile, in the fouth fide by the fea, wherethere is a-
number of ftinking pools. of ftagnant water, which contri-.
butes to make the town very unwholefome. .

Jippa, befides being in the moft unwholefome part of |
Arabia, is, at the fame time, in the moft barren and defert
fituation. This, and many other inconveniencies, under”
which it labours, would, probably, have occafioned its being |
abandoned altogether, were it not for its vicinity to Mecca,..
and the great and fudden influx of wealth from-the India .
trade, which, once a-year, arrives in this part, but does not
continue, pafling on, as through a turnpike, to Mecca;.
whenceit is difperfed all over the eaft.. Very little advan-
tage however accrues:to Jidda.. The cuftoms are:all imme-
diately fent tova: needy fovereign, and a:hungry fet.of re-.
lations, dependents and minifters at Mecca.. The gold is re--
turned in bags and boxes, and paffes on as rapidly to the.
fhips as the goods do to the market,.and leaves as little -
profit behind. In the mean time, provifions rife to a prodi--
gious price, and this falls upon the townfmen, while all-
the profit of the traffic is in the hands of ftrangers; moft of
whom, after the market.is over, (which does not laft fix:

weeks).

ae

280 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

weeks) retire to Yemen, and other neighbouring countries,
which abound in every fort of provifion.

Upon this is founded the obfervation, that of all Maho-
metan countries none are fo monogam as thofe of Jidda,
and no where are there fo many unmarried women, altho’
this is the country of their prophet, and the permiffion of
marrying four wives was allowed in this diftrict in the firft
inftance, and afterwards communicated to all the tribes. -

But Mahomet, in his permiflion of plurality of wives,
feems conftantly to have been on his guard, againft fuffer-
ing that, which was intended for the welfare of his people,
from operating in a different manner. He did not permit
a man to marry two, three, or four wives, unlefs he could
maintain them. He was interefted for the rights and rank
of thefe women; and the man fo marrying was obliged
to fhew before the Cadi, or fome equivalent officer, or
judge, that it was in his power to fupport them, according
totheir birth. It was not fo with concubines, with women
who were purchafed, or who were taken in war. Every
man enjoyed thefe at his pleafure, and their peril, that is,
whether he was able to maintain them or not.

From this great fcarcity of provifions, which is the re-
fult of an extraordinary concourfe to a place almoft cefti-
tute of the neceflaries of life, few inhabitants of Jidda can
avail themfelves of the privilege granted him by Mahomet.
He therefore cannot marry more than one wife, becaufe he
cannot maintain more, and from this caufe arifes the want
of people, and the large number of unmarried women.

WHEN

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 281

WueEn in Arabia Felix, where every fort of provifion is ex-
ceedingly cheap, where the fruits of the ground, the gener-
al food for man, are produced fpontaneouily, the fupport-
ing of a number of wives cofts no more than fo many
flaves or fervants ; their food is the fame, and a blue cotton
fhirt, a habit common to them all, is not more chargeable
for the one than the other. The confequence is, that celi-
bacy in women is prevented, and the number of people is
increafed in a fourfold ratio by polygamy, to what it is in
thofe that are monogamous.

I xnow there are authors fond of fyftem, enemies to
free inquiry, and blinded by prejudice, who contend that
polygamy, without diftinétion of circumftances, is detri-
mental to the population of a country. The learned Dr
Arbuthnot, in a paper addrefled to the Royal Society*, has
maintained this ftrange doctrine, ina {till ftranger manner.
He lays it down, as his firft pofition, that in /emine mafculino
of our firft parent Adam, there was impreffed an original
neceflity of procreating, ever after, an equal number of
males and females. The manner he proves this, has received
great incenfe from the vulgar, as containing un unanfwer-
able argument. He fhews, by the cafting of three dice,
that the chances are almoft infinite, that an equal number
of males and females fhould zt be born in any year; and
he pretends to prove, that every year in twenty, as taken
from the bills of mortality, the fame number of males and
females have conftantly been produced, or at leaft a greater
proportion of men than of women, to make up for the ha-

Vor. I. Nn vock

* Philofoph. Tranfad. Vol. 27. p. 186.

282 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

vock occafioned by war, murdez, drunkennels, and all fpe--
cies of violence to which women are not fubjec..

I neep not fay, that this, at leaft, fufficiently fhews the-
weaknels of the argument.. For, if the equal proportion had
been iz femine mafculino of our firft: parent, the confequence
muft have been, that male and female would have been in-.
variably born, from the creation to the end of all things.
And it is.a fuppofition very unworthy of the wifdom of God, ,
that, at the creation of man, he could make an allowance
for any deviation that was to happen, from crimes, againft
the commiflion-of which his pofitive precepts ran. Weak
as this is, it is not the weakeft part of this artificial argu--
ment, which, like the web of a {pider too finely woven,
whatever part you touch it on, the whole falls to pieces. .

Arter taking it for granted, that he has proved the equa+-
lity of the two fexes in number, from the bills of mortality
in London, he next fuppofes, as a confequence, that all the-
world is. in the fame predicament; that is, that an equal.
number of males.and females is produced every where.
Why Dr Arbuthnot, an eminent phyfician. (which furely.
implies an informed naturalift) fhould imagine that this
inference would hold, is what Iam not able to account for,
He fhould know, let us fay,in the countries of the eaft, that.
fruits, flowers, trees, birds, fifh, every blade of grafs, is com-.
monly different, and that man, in his appearance, diet, ex-.
ercife, pleafure, government, and religion, is as widely difs.
ferent; why he fhould found the iffue of an Afiatic, how--
ever, upon the bills of mortality in London, is to the full as.,
abfurd as to affert, that they do not wear either beard or.
whifkers in Syria, becaufe that is not the cafe in London.

LAM:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 283

I am well aware, that it may be urged by thofe who per-
mnit themfelves to fay every thing, becaufe they are not at
“pains to confider any thing, that the courfe of my argument
wiil lead to a defence of polygamy in general, the fuppofed
doctrine of the Thelypthora*. Such reflections as thefe,
unlefs introduced for merriment,.are below my animadver-
fion ; all I fhall fay on that topic is, that they who find en-
couragement to pelygamy in Mr Madan’s book, the Thelyp-
~-thora, have read it with amuch more acute perception than
perhaps I have done; and I fhall be very much miftaken,
if polygamy increafes in England upon the principles laid
down in the Thelypthora. .

Eneranp, fays Dr Arbuthnot, enjoys an equality of both
fexes, and, if it is not fo, the inequality is fo imperceptible,
that no inconvenience has yet followed. What we have
now to inquire is, Whether other nations, or the majority
‘of them, are in the fame fituation? For,if we are to decide
by this, and if we fhould happen to find; that, in other
countries, there are invariably born three women to one
man, the conclufion,in regard to that country, mutt be, that
three women to one man was the proportion of one fex to
the other, impreffed at the creation i /emineof our firft parent.

I conress Iam not fond of meddling with the globe
before the deluge. But as learned men feem inclined to think
that Ararat and Euphrates are the mountain and river of
antédiluvian times, and that Mefopotamia, or Diarbekir, is
the ancient fituation of the terreftrial paradife, I cannot give

Nn 2 Dr

* A late publication of Dr Madan’s, little underftood, as it would feem.

284 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER -

Dr Arbuthnot’s argument fairer play *, than to tranfport my-=
felf thither ; and, in the fame fpot where the neceflity was
impofed of male and female being produced in equal num-
bers, inquire how that cafe ftands now. The pretence that
climates and times may have changed, the proportion can-
not be admitted, fince it has been taken for granted, that it
exifts in the bills of mortality in London, and governs them to
this day ; and, fince it was founded on neceflity, which muft °
be eternal.

Now, from a diligent inquiry into the fouth, and fcrip-
ture-part of Mefopotamia, Armenia, and Syria, from Mouful
(or Nineveh) to Aleppo and Antioch, I find the proportion to
be fully two women born to one man. ‘There is indeed a
fraction over, but not a confiderable one. From Latikea,
Laodicea ad mare, down the coaft of Syria to Sidon, the num-
ber is very nearly three, or two and three-fourths to one man.
Through the Holy Land, the country called Horan, in the
Uthmus. of Suez, and the parts of the Delta, unfrequented
by flrangers, it is fomething lefs than three. But, from
Suez to the ftraits of Babelmandeb, which contains the three
Arabias, the portion is fully four women to one man, which,
{ have reafon to believe, holds as far as the Line, and 30°
beyond it.

Tue Imam of Sana* was not an old man when I was in
Arabia Felix in 1769; but he had 88 children then alive, of
whom. 14 only were fons.---The prieft of the Nile had 70 and

odd.

* Sovereign of Arabia Felix, whofe capital is Saza..

THESSOURCE OF THE NILE, abs

odd children; of whom, as I remember, above 50 were
daughters.

Ir may be objected, that Dr Arbuthnot, in quoting the
bills of mortality for twenty years, gave moft unexception-
able grounds for his opinion, and that my fingle aflertion
of what happens in a foreign country, without further foun-
dation, cannot be admitted as equivalent teftimony; and I
am ready to admit'this objection, as bills of mortality there
are none in any of thefe countries. I fhall therefore fay in.
what manner I attained the knowledge which I have juft
mentioned. Whenever I went into a town, village, or in-
habited place, dwelt long in a mountain, or travelled jour-
nies with any fet of people, I always made it my bufinefs
to inquire how many children they had, or their fathers,
their next neighbours, or acquaintance. This not being a
captious queftion, or what any one would fcruple to an-
fwer, there was no intereft to deceive; and if it had been
poffible, that two or three had been fo wrong-headed among:
the whole, it would have been of little confequence..

Truen afked my landlord at Sidon, (fuppofe him a wea-
ver,) how many children he has had? He tells-me how
many fons, andhow many daughters. The next I afk is a
fmith, a tailor, a filk-gatherer, the Cadi of the place, a cow--
herd, a hunter, a fifher, in fhort every man that is not a
ftranger, from whom I can get proper information. I fay,
therefore, that a medium of both fexes arifing from three:
or four hundred families indifcriminately taken, fhall be
the proportion in which one differs from the other; and
this, 1 am confident, will give the refult to be three women

£0.

286 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

to one man in 50° out of the go° under every meridian of
the globe.

WituovTt giving Mahomet all the credit for abilities
that fome have done, we may furely fuppofe him to know
what happened in his own family, where he muft have
feen this great difproportion of four women born to one
man; and from the obvious confequences, we are not to
wonder that one of his firft cares, when a legiflator, was
to rectify it, as it ftruck at the very root of his empire,
power, andreligion. With this view, he enacted, or rather
revived, the law which gave liberty to every individual to
marry four wives, each of whom was to be equal in rank
and honour, without any preference but what the predilec-
tion of the hufband gave her. By this he fecured civil
rights to each woman, and procured a means of doing a-
way that reproach, of dying without iffue, to which the minds
of the whole fex have always been fenfible, whatever their
religion was, or from whatever part of the world they
came.

Many, whoare not converfant with Arabian hiftory, have
imagined, that this permiffion of a plurality of wives was
given in favour of men, and have taxed one of the moft
political, necefary meafures, of that legiflator, arifing from mo-
tives merely civil, with a tendency to encourage lewdnefs,
from which it was very far diftant. But, if they had con-
fidered that the Mahometan law allows divorce without
any caufe afigned, and that, every day at the pleafure of the
man; befides, that it permits him as many concubines as he
can maintain, buy with money, take in war, or gain by the
ordinary means of addve(s and folicitations,—they will think

fuch

THA SOURCE OF THE NILE. boy a

fuch a man was before fufficiently provided, and that there
was not the leaft reafon for allowing him to marry four
Wives at a time, when he was already at liberty to marry as
new one every day..

Dr ArputTunoT lays it down as a felf-evident pofition;.
that four women will. have more children by four men,
than the fame four women would have by one.. This affer-.
tion may very well be difputed, but ftill.it is not in point.
For the queftion with regard.to Arabia, and.toa great part.
of the world befides, is, Whether or not four women and
one man, married, or cohabiting at difcretioa, fhall.produce.
more children, than four women and-one man who is. de-

‘barred from cohabiting with any but one of the four, the:

others dying unmarried without the knowledge of man ?-
or, in other words, Which fhall have moft children, one man.
and one woman, or one man and’ four: women? This.
queftion I think needs no difcu(ffion.

Let us now confider, if there is any further reafon why
England fhould not.be brought as an example, which Ara-~
bia, or the Eaf in general, are to-follow.

i}

Women in England are commonly capable of child-bear-
ing at fourteen, let the other term be forty-eight, when they’
bear no more ; thirty-four years, therefore, an Englifh wo-.
man bears children.: At the age of fourteen or fifteen they’
are objects of our love; they are endeared by bearing us.
children after that time, and none I hope will pretend, that, .
at forty-eight and fifty, an Englith woman is not an agree--
able companion. Perhaps the lad years, to thinking minds, .
are fully more agreeable than the firft.. We grow old toge-.

ther,,

al

>

2 a,

288 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ther, we have a near profpect of dying together; nothing can
prefent a more agreeable picture of focial life, than mono-
gamy in England.

Tue Arab, on the other hand, if fhe begins to bear chil-
dren at eleven, feldom or never has a child after twenty.
The time then of her child-bearing is nine years, and four

women, taken altogether, have then the term of ¢hirty-fix. So —
that the Englifh woman that bears children for thirty-four

years, has only two years lefs than the term enjoyed by the
four wives whom Mahomet has allowed; and if it be grant-
ed an Englifh wife may bear at fifty, the terms are equal.

Burt there are other grievous differences. An Adora
girl, at eleven years old, by her youth and beauty, is the ob-
ject of man’s defire; being an infant, however, in under-
ftanding, fhe is not a rational companion for him. A man
marries there, fay at ¢wenty, and before he is thirty, his wife,
improved as a companion, ceafes to be an object of his de-
fires, and a mother of children; fo that all the beft, and
moft vigorous of his days, .are {pent with a woman he can-
not love, and with her he would be deftined to live forty,
or forty-five years, without comfort to himfelf by increafe of
family, or utility to the public.

Tus reafons, then, againft polygamy, which fubfift in
England, do not by any means fubfift in Arabia; and that
being the cafe, it would be unworthy of the wifdom of God,
and an unevennefs in his ways, which we {hall never fee,
to fubje& two nations, under fuch different circumftances,
abfolutely to the fame obfervances.

T CONSIDER

ag

q
}
}

:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 289

I consiprr the prophecy concerning Ifhmael, and his def-
cendants the Arabs, as one of the moft extraordinary that
we meet with in the Old Teftament. It was alfo one of the
earlieft made, and proceeded upon grounds of private repa-
ration. Hagar had not finned, though fhe had fled from.
Sarah with Ifhmael*her fon into the wildernefs. In that
defert there were then no inhabitants, and though I{h-
maael’s * fucceflion was incompatible with God's promife to
Abraham and his’ fon Ifaac, yet neither Hagar nor he ha-.
ving finned, juftice required a reparation for the heritage
which he had loft. God gave him that very wildernefs
which before was the property of no,man, in which Ifh- —
mael was to erect akingdom under the moft improbable
circumftances poflible to b@ imagined. His + hand was to
be againft every man, and every man’s hand againft him.
By his {word he was to live, Boe pitch his tent in the faceof .
his brethren.

Never has prophecy been fo completely fulfilled. It fub-
fifted from the earlieft ages; it was verified before the time
of Mofes ; in the time of David and Solomon; it fubfifted in
the time ie Alexander and that of Auguftus aan ; it fubfift-
ed in the time of Juftinian, —all very diftant, unconnected |
periods ; and I appeal to the evidence of mankind, if, with-
out apparent fupport or neceffity, but what it has derived
from God’s promife only, it is not in full vigour at this very
day. This prophecy alone,in the truth of which all forts of

Vot. I. _ Oo religions

* Gen. xy, 18 + Gen. «vi. 12.

290 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ry

religions agree, is therefore of itfelf a fafficient proof, with-
out other, of the Divine authority of the feripture.

Manomer prohibited all pork and wine; two articles.
which muft have been, before, very little ufed in Arabia..
Grapes, here, grow in the mountains of Yemen, but never.
arrive at maturity enough for wine. They bring them.
down for this purpofe to Loheia, and there the heat of the .
climate turns the wine four before they can clear it of its feces,
fo as to make it drinkable; and we know that, before the’
appearance of Mahomet, Arabia was never a wine country.

As for fwine, I never heard of them in the peninfula of

Arabia, (unlefs perhaps wild in the woods about Sana,) and

it was from early times inhabited by Jews before the com- )
ing of Mahomet. The only people therefore that ate {wine’s,
flefh muft have been Chriftians, and they were a fect of lit.
tle account. Many of thefe, moreover, do not eat pork yet,,
but all of them were oppreffed and defpifed every-where,
and there was no inducement for any other people to imi-
tate them,. | ‘

_Mauomer then prohibiting only what was merely neu-
iral, or indifferent to the Arabs, indulged them in that to.
which he knew they were prone. ;

Ar the feveral converfations I had’ with the Englifh mera.
ehants at Jidda, they complained grievouily of the manner
in which they were opprefled by the fherriffe of Mecca and
his officers. The duties and fees were increafed every voyage;
their privileges all taken away, and a moft deftructive mea-
fure introduced of forcing them to give prefents, which was
ealy an inducement to opprefs, that the gift might be the .
greater:

THE SOUVR.GE OF THE NILE 291

greater. I afked them if I fhould obtain from the Bey of
Cairo permiffion for their fhips to come down to Suez, whi-
ther there were merchants in India who would venture
to undertake that voyage? Captain Thornhill promifed,,
for his part, that the very feafon after fuch permiffion.
fhould arrive in India, he would difpatch his fhip the Ben=.
gal Merchant, under command of his mate Captain Greig,
to whofe capacity and worth all his countrymen bore very
ready teftimony, and of which I myfelf had formed a very
good opinion, from the feveral converfations we had to-
gether. This {cheme was concerted between me and Cap-.
tain Thornhill: only; and tho’ it muft be confeffed it had.
the appearance of an airy one, (fince it was not to be at-
tempted, till I had returned through Abyffinia and Nubia,

againft which there were many thoufand chances,) it was
executed, notwithftanding,in the very manner in which it
had been planned, as will be after tated. |

Tus Landneds and itech of my countrymen did not
leave me as longas I was on fhore. They all did me the
honour to attend me to the water edge. If others have ex-.
perienced pride and prefumption, from gentlemen of the
Eaft-Indies, Iwas moft happily exempted from even the ap-
pearance of it at Jidda. Happy it would have been for me,.
if I had been more neglected..

Aut the quay of Jidda was lined with people to fee the:
Englith falute, and along with my veffel there parted, at the
fame time, one bound to Mafuah, which carried Mahomet
Abd el cader, Governor of Dahalac, over to his government..

Oo 2. Dahalac.

292 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Dahalac* is a large ifland, depending upon Mafuah, but
which has a feparate firman, or commiffion, renewed every
two years. This man was a Moor, a fervant of the Naybe
of Mafuah, and he had been at Jidda to procure his firman
from Metical Aga, while Mahomet Gibberti was to come
with me, and was to bring it tothe Naybe. ‘This Abd el ca-
der no fooner was arrived at Mafuah, than, following the turn
of his country for lying, he {pread areport, that a great man, ff
or prince, whom he left at Jidda, was coming {peedily to
Mafuah ; that he had brought great prefents to the Sherriffe
and Metical Aga; that, in return, he had received a large
fum in go/d from the Sherriffe’s Vizir, Youfef Cabil; befides
as much as he pleafed from the Englifh, who had done
nothing but feaft and regale him for the feveral months he
had been at Jidda; and that, when he departed, as this great
man was now going to vifit the Imam in Arabia Felix, all
the Englifh fhips hoifted their colours, and fired their can-
non from morning to night, for three days fucceflively,
which was two days after he had failed, and therefore what
he could not poffibly have feen. The confequence of all
this was, the Naybe of Mafuah expected that a man with
immenfe treafures was coming to put himfelf into dis hands.
I look therefore upon the danger I efcaped there as fuperior
to all thofe put together, that I have ever been expofed to:
of fuch material and bad confequence is the moft contemp-
tible of all weapons, the tongue ofa liar anda fool!

Jippa

* The ifland of the Shepherds.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 203

Jippa is in lat. 28° 0’ 1” north, and in long. 39° 16745”
-eaft of the meridian of Greenwich. Our weather there had
few changes. The general wind was north-weft, or more
northerly. This blowing along the direction of the Gulf
brought a great deal of damp along with it; and this damp
increafes as the feafon advances. Once in twelve or four-
teen days, perhaps, we had a fouth wind, which was always
‘dry. The higheft degree of the barometer at Jidda, on the
sth of June, wind north, was 26° 6’, and the loweft on the
18th of fame month, wind north-weft, was 25° 7’. The
higheft degree of the thermometer was 97° on the 12th of
Faly, wind north, the loweft was 78° wind north.

CHAP,

292, TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

GHAP.. XID. -.

Sails: from Fidda—Konfodah—Ras.-Heli, boundary of Arabia’ Félix
Arrives at Loheia—Praceeds to the Straits of the. Indian: Occan—Ar-
vives there—Reiurns by Azab to Lobeia..

T was on the 8th of July 1769 I failed from the harbour
of Jidda on board the fame veffel.as before, and.I fuffer-
ed the Rais to take a {mall loading for his own account, up-.
en. condition that he was to carry no paflengers.. The wind’
was fair, and we failed through the Englifh fleet at their
anchors.. As they had all honoured me with their regret at:
parting, and accompanied me to the fhore, the Rais was fur-
prifed to fee the refpect paid to-his little veffel. as it pafled:
under their huge fterns, every one hoifting his-colours, and:
faluting it with eleven guns, except the fhip belonging to»
my Scotch friend, who fhewed. his colours, indeed, but. did:
not fire a gun, only ftanding upon deck, cried: with the:
trumpet, “ Captain wifhes Mr Bruce a good voyage.”
L ftood upon. deck, took my trumpet, and anfwered, “ Mr
Bruce wifhes Captain . a fpeedy and perfe& return of JA
his underftanding ;” a wifh,. poor man, that has not yet .
been accomplifhed, and very much to my regret, it does not:
appear probable that ever it will, That night having paff-
ed:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. . 295

ed a clufter of fhoals, called the Shoals of Safia, we anchor-
ed in a fmall bay, Merfa Gedan, about twelve leagues ee
the harbour of Jidda.

Tue oth of July, we paffed another fmall road called
Goofs, and at a quarter paft nine, Raghwan, eaft north-eaft
two miles, and, at a quarter paft ten, the fmall Port of Sodi,
bearing eaft north-eaft, at the fame diftance. At one and
three quarters we pafled Markat, two miles diftant north-
eait by eaft; anda rock called Numan, two miles diftant to the
fouth-weft. After this the mountain of Somma, and, at a
quarter paft fix, we anchored in a {mall unfafe harbour,
called Mer/fa Brahim, of which we had feen a very rough and
incorrect defign in the hands of the gentlemen at Jidda.
I have endeavoured, with that draught before me, to cor-
rect it fo far that it may now be depended upon.

Tue roth, we failed, at five o’clock in the morning, with
little wind, our courfe fouth and by weft; I fuppofe we were
then going fomething lefs than two knots an hour. At
half after feven we paffed the ifland Abeled, and two other
fmall mountains that bore about a league fouth-weft and
by weft of us. The wind frefhened as it approached mid-
day, fo that at one o’clock we went full three knots an hour,
being obliged to change our courfe according to the lying
of the iflands. It came to be about fouth fouth-eaft in the
end of the day. |

At a quarter after one, we paffed Ras el Afkar, meaning
‘the Cape of the Soldiers, or of the Army. Here we faw fome
trees, and, at a confiderable diftance within the Main, moun-
tains to the north-eaft of us. At two o’clock we paffed in

3 the

296 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the middle channel; between five fandy iflands, all coverédy
with kelp, three on the eaft or:right hand, and’ two on the

weft. They are called Ginnan el Abiad, or. the White Gardens,

I fuppofe from the green herb growing upon the white

fand. At half after two, with the fame wind, we pafled an :
ifland bearing: eaft from us; the Main about a league difa.
tant. At three we pafled clofe to an ifland bearing fouth-

weft of us, about a mile off It:is of a moderate height;

and is called ¥ibbel Surreme. At’ half paft four our courfe was:
fouth-eaft and by fouth; we pafled two iflands. to the fouth-
eaft of us, at two miles, and a fmaller, weft. fouth-weft a
quarter ofa mile diftant: From: this: te. the Main will be,
about five miles, or fomething more. At fifty-minutes after,
four, came up to an ifland which: reached to Konfodah. We:
faw. to the weft, and weft fouth-weit of ‘us, different fmall
iflands, not. more than half:a.mile diftant. We heaved the
line, and had no foundings at thirty-two fathom, yet, if.
any where, I thought tliere we were to find fhoal water. At»
five o’clock, our courfe being fouth-eaft and by fouth, we

pafied an ifland a quarter of a mile to the weft of us, and:
afterwards a numberof others in a row; and, at-half paft
eight, we arrived at an anchoring-place, but which cannot:
be called a harbour, named Mer/a Hadou..

Tue rith, we left Merfa-Hadou at four o’clock in the>
morning. Being calm, we made little way; our courfe
was fouth fouth-eaft, which changed to a little more eaft-
erly. At fix, we tacked to ftand in for Konfodah harbour,.
which is very remarkable for a high mountain behind it,
whofe top is terminated by a pyramid or cone of very regu+
lar proportion. There was no wind to carry us in; we
hoifted out the boat which I had bought at Jidda for my

2 pleafure

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 297

pieafure and fafety, intending it to be a prefent to my Rais.
at parting, as he very well knew. At a quarter paft eight,
we were towed to our anchorage in the harbour of Kon-
fodah.

Konropau means the town of the hedge-hog™. It is afmall
village, confifting of about two hundred miferable houfes,
built with green wood, and covered with mats, made of the
doom, or palm-tree ; lying ona bay, or rather a fhallow bafon,
in a defert wafte or plain. Behind the town are fmall hil-
locks of white fand. Nothing grows on fhore excepting
kelp, but it is exceedingly beautiful, and very luxuriant ;
farther in, there are gardens. Fifh is in perfect plenty; but-
ter and milk in great abundance; even the defert looks
frefher than other deferts, which made me imagine that
rain fell fometimes here, and this the Emir told me was the
cafe.

A.tTuoucu I made a draught of the port, it 1s not worth
the publifhing. For though in all probability it was once
deep, fafe, and convenient, yet there is nothing now but a
kind of road, under fhelter of a point, or ridge of land, which
rounds out into the fea, and ends in a Cape, called Ras Mo-
zefa. Behind the town there is another fmall Cape, upon
which there are three guns mounted, but with what in-
tention it was not poffible to guefs,

Tue Emir Ferhan, governor of the town, was an Abyfii-
nian flave, who invited me on fhore, and we dined together
Vor. {. Pp on

* Or Porcupine, ak ee '

298 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

on very excellent provifion, dreffed according to their cufs
tom. He faid the country near the fhore was defert, but
a little within land, or where the roots and gravel had: fix-
ed the fand, the foil produced every thing, efpecially if they
had any fhowers of rain. It was fo long fince I had heard.
mention of a fhower of rain, that Tcould not help laughing,
and he feemed to think that he had faid fomething wrong,
and begged fo politely to Know what I laughed at, that 1 .
was obliged to confefs. “ The-reafon, faid I, Sir, isan ab=
furd one. What paffed in my mind at that ume was, that
i had travelled about two thoufand miles; andabove twelve:
months, and had neither feen nor heard of a./hower of rain.
till now, and though you will perceive by my converfation
that I underftand your language well, for a ftranger, yet 1
declare to you, the moment you fpoke it, had you afked}
what was the Arabic for a fhower of rain, I could not have
told you. I declare to you, upon my word, it was that
which I laughed at, and upon no other account what-.
ever.” “ You are going, fays he, to. countries’ where you
will have rain and wind, fufficiently cold, and where the
water in the mountains is harder than the dry land, and
people ftand upon it *. We have only the remnant of
their fhowers, and it is to.that we owe our greateft happi-.

nef{s.” | LA
Iwas very much. pleafed with his converfation. He
feemed to be near fifty years of age, was exceedingly well
dreffed, had neither gun nor piftol about him, not even a
knife;,

* Yemen, or the high land of Arabia Felix, where water. freezes,.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 299

knife, nor an Arab: fervant armed, though they were all
well dreffed; but he had in his court-yard about threefcore
of the fineft horfes J had for a long time feen. We dined
juft oppofite to them, in a {mall faloon ftrowed with India
carpets ; the walls were covered with white tiles, which |
fuppofe he had got from India; yet his houfe, without, was
a very common one, diftinguithed ey from the reft in the
engi ‘ite its fine.

#) He Fcmnetn to have amore Subseries sosbstlstins of things,
and {poke more elegantly than any man I had converied
with in Arabia. He faid he had loft the only feven fons he
_ had, in one month, by the fmall-pox: And when I at-
tempted to go away, he wifhed I would flay with him fome
time, and faid, that I had better take up my lodgings in
his houfe, than go on board the boat that night, where |
was not perfectly in fafety. On my feeming furprifed at
this, he told me, that laft year, a veffel from Mafcatte, on the
Indian Ocean, had quarrelled with his. people; that they
had fought on the fhore, and feveral of the crew had been
killed; that they had obftinately cruized in the neighbour-
hood, in hopes of reprifals, till, by the change of the mon-
foon, they had loft their paflage home, and fo were necef-
farily confined to the Red Sea for fix months afterwards; he
added, they had four guns, which they called patareroes,
and that they would certainly cut us off, as they could not
mifs to fall in with us. This was the very’ wort news that
I had ever heard, as to what might happen at fea. Before
this, we thought all flrangers were our friends, and only
feared the natives of the coaft for enemies; now, upon a
bare defencelefs fhore, we found ourfelves likely to ee a.
prey to both natives and ftrangers.

Pp2 Our

300 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Our Rais, above all, was feized with a panic ; his country
was juft adjoining to Mafcatte upon the Indian Ocean, and
they were generally at war. He faid he knew well who

they were, that there was no country kept in better order ©

than Mafcatte ; but that thefe were a fet of pirates, belong:
ing to the Bahareen; that their veffels were ftout, full of
men, who carried incenfe to Jidda, and up as far as Mada-

gafcar; that they feared no man, and loved no man, only |
were true totheir employers for the time. He imagined (I —

fuppofe it was but imagination,) that he had feen a veffel in
the morning, (a lug-fail veffel, as the pirate was defcribed to
be,) and it was with difficulty we could prevail on the Rais not

to fail back to Jidda. I took my leave of the Emir to returm

to my tent, to hold a confultation what was to be done.

Konropau is in the lat. 19 7’ North. It is one of the.
moft unwholefome parts on the Red Sea,provifion is very dear '

and bad, and the water, (contrary to what the’ Emir had
told me) execrable. Goats flefh is the only meat, and that
very dear and lean. The anchorage, from the caftle, bears
north-weft a quarter of a mile diftant, from ten to feven
fathoms, in fand and mud.

On the 14th, our Rais, more afraid of dying by a fever
than by the hands of the pirates, confented willingly to put
to fea. The Emir’s good dinners had not extended to the
boat’s crew, and they had been upon fhort commons. The
Rais’s fever had returned fince he left Jidda, and I gave him
fome dofes of bark, after which he foon recovered. But he
was always complaining of hunger, which the black flefh
of an old goat, the Emir had given us, did not fatisfy.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 302

We failed at fix o’clock in the morning, having firft, by
way of precaution, thrown all our ballaft over-board, that.
we mightrun into fhoal water upon the appearance of the
enemy. We kept a good look-out toward the horizon all
around us, efpecially when we failed in the morning. I ob-
ferved we became all fearlefs, and bold, about noon; but to-
wards night the panic again feized us, like children that
are afraid of ghofts; though at that time we might have
been fure that all flranger veflels were at.anchor.,

We had littie wind, and paffed between various rocks to
the weftward, continuing our courfe S. S. E. nearly, fome-
what more eafterly, and about three miles diftant from the
fhore. At four o’clock, noon, we paffed Jibbel Sabeia, a
fandy ifland, larger than the others, but no higher. To
this ifland the Arabs of Ras Heli fend their wives and chil-
dren in time of war; none of the reft areinhabited. At five
we pafled Ras Heli, which is the boundary between Yemen,
or Arabia Felix, and the * Hejaz, or province of Mecca, the
firft belonging to the Imam, or king of Sana, the other ta
the Sherriffe lately {poken of.

I DEsrRED my Rats to anchor this night clofe under the
Cape, as it was perfectly calm and clear, and, by taking a
mean of five obfervations of the paflage of fo many ftars, the
moft proper for the purpofe, over the meridian, I determined .
the latitude of Ras Heli, and confequently the boundary of

the

* Arabia. Deferta,

302 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the two ftates, Hejaz and Yemen, or Arabia Felix and Arabia
Deferta, to be 18° 36’ north. '

‘THE mountains reach here nearer to the fea. We an-
chored a mile from the fhore in 15 fathoms, the banks were
fand and coral; from this the coaft is better inhabited.
The principal Arabs to which the country belongs are Co-
trufhi, Sebahi, Helali, Mauchlota, and Menjahi. Thefe are
not Arabs by origin, but came from the oppofite coaft near
Azab, and. were Shepherds, who were ftubborn enemies to
Mahomet, but at laft converted ; they are black, and woolly-
headed. The mountains and {mall iflands on the coatft, far-
ther inland to the eaftward, are in pofleflion of the Habib.
Thefe are white in colour, rebellious, or independent Arabs,
who pay no fort of obedience to the Imam, or the Sherriffe
of Mecca, but occafionally plunder the towns on the coaft..

Aut the fandy defert at the foot of the mountains is call-
ed Tehama, which extends to Mocha. But in the maps it is
marked as a feparate country from Arabia Felix, whereas it
is but the low part, or fea-coaft of it, and is not a feparate
jurifdiction. It is called Zema in fcripture, and derives its
name from Zaami in Arabic, which fignifies the fea-coaft.
There is little water here, as it never rains; there is alfo no
animal but the gazel or antelope, and but a few of them.
There are few birds, and thofe which may be found are ge-
nerally mute.

Tue rsth, we failed with little wind, coafting along the
fhore, fometimes at two miles diftance, and often lefs. The
mountains now feemed high. I founded feveral times, and
found no ground at thirty fathoms, within a mile of the

fhore,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 30%

fhore. We paffed feveral ports or harbours; firft Merfa Amec,.
where there is good anchorage in eleven fathom of water,
a mile and a half from the fhore; at eight o’clock, No-
houde, with an ifland of the fame name; at ten, a harbour
and village called Dahaban. As the {ky was quite overcatft,
Tcould get no obfervation, though I watched very attentive-.
ly. Dahaban is a large village, where there is both water
and provifion, but I did not fee its harbour. It bore E.N.E.
of us about three miles diftant.. At three quarters pat
eleven we came up to a high rock, called Kotumbal, and 1
lay to, for obfervation. It is of a dark-brown, approaching
to red; is about two miles from the Arabian fhore, and
produces nothing. I found its latitude to be 17° 57’ north.
A fmall rock ftands up at one end of the bafe of the moun—
tain.

We came to an anchor in the port of Sibt, where I went:
afhore under pretence of feeking provifions, but in reality
to fee the country, and obferve what fort of people the in-.
habitants were. The mountains from Kotumbal ran in.
an even chain along the coaft, at no great diftance, but of
fuch a height, that as yet we had feen nothing like them..
Sibt is too mean, and too fmall to be called a village, even.
in Arabia. It confifts of about fifteen or twenty miferable
huts, built of ftraw; around it there is a plantation of doom-
trees, of the leaves of which they make mats and fails,
which is the whole manufacture of the place..

Our. Rais made many purchafes here. The Corru/bi, the
imhabitants of this village, feem to be as brutith a people
as any inthe world. They are perfectly lean, but mufcu-.
Jar, and apparently flrong; they wear all their own heir,

i u which

304 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

which they divide upon the crown of their head. It is
black and bufhy, and, although fufficiently long, feems to
partake of the woolly quality of the Negro. Their head
is bound round with a cord or fillet of the doom leaf, like
the ancient diadem. The women are generally ill-favour-
ed, and go naked like the men. Thofe that are married
have, for the moft part, a rag about their middle, fome of
them not that. Girls of all ages go quite naked, but
feem not to be confcious of any impropriety in their ap-
pearance. Their lips, eye-brows, and foreheads above the
eye-brow, are all marked with ftiibium, or antimony, the
common ornament of favages throughout the world. They
feemed to be perfe&tly on an equality with the men, walk-
ed, fat, and {moked with them, contrary to the practice of
all women among the Turks and Arabs.

We found no provifions at Sibt, and the water very bad.
We returned on board our veffel at fun-fet, and anchored
in eleven fathom, little lefs than a mile from the fhore,
About eight o'clock, two girls, not fifteen, {wam off from
the fhore, and came on board. They wanted ftibium for
their eye-brows. As they had laboured fo hard for it, I gave
them a fmall quantity, which they tied in a rag about their .
neck. I had killed three fharks this day ; one of them, very
large, was lying on deck. Iafked them if they were not
afraid of that fifh? They faid, they knew it, but it would
not hurt them, and defired us to eat it, for it was good,
and made men ftrong. There appeared no fymptoms of
jealoufy among them. The harbour of Sibt is of a femi-
circular form, fcreened between N. N. E. and S. S. W. but
to the fouth; and fouth weft, it is expofed, and therefore is
good only in fummer,

4 "THE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. R05

‘Tue 16th, at five in the morning, we failed from the port
_ of Sibt, but, the wind being contrary, were obliged to fteer
to the W. S. W. and it was not till nine o’clock we could
refume our true courfe, which was fouth-eaft. At half
pait four in the afternoon the main bore feven miles eaft,
when we paffed an ifland a quarter of a mile in length,
called ¥ibbel Foran, the Mountain of Mice. It is of a rocky
quality, with fome trees on the fouth end, thence it rifes
infentibly, and ends ina precipice orf the north. At fix,
we pafled the ifland * Deregé, low and-covered with grafs,
but ‘round like a fhield, which is the reafon of its name.
At half paft fix Ras Tarfa bore E. S. E. of us, diftant about
two miles; and at-+three quarters after fix we pafled feve-
ral other iflands, the largeft of which is called Saraffer. It is
covered with grafs, has fmall trees upon it, and, probably,
therefore water, but is uninhabited. At nine in the even-
ang we.anchored before Djezan.

Dyezawn is in lat. 16° 45’ north, fituated on a cape,
~which forms one fide of a large bay. It is built,as are all
the towns on ‘the coaft, with ftraw and mud. It was once
a very confiderable place for trade, but fince coffee hath
been fo much in demand, of which they have none, that
commerce is moved to Loheiaand Hodeida. It is an ufur-
pation from the territory of the Imam, by a Sherriffe of the
family of Beni Haffan, called Booari/h. The inhabitants are
all Sherriffes, in other terms, troublefome, ignorant fanatics.
Djezan is one of the towns moft fubject to fevers. The

Vou. I. Qq ; Faren-

* Deregé, from that word in Hebrew.

306: TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

Farenteit *, or worm, is very frequent here. They have-
great abundance of excellent fifth, and fruit in plenty, which.
is brought from the mountains, whence alfo they are fup-.
plied with very good water,,

Tue 17th, in the evening, we failed from Djezan; in the:
night we paffed feveral fmall villages called Dueime, which:
I found to be in lat..16° 12’ 5” north. In the morning, be-. .
ing three miles diftant from the fhore, we paffed Cape Gof-.
ferah, which forms the north fide of a large Gulf. The-
mountains here are at no great diftance, but they are not
high. The whole country feems perfectly bare and defert,.
without inhabitants. It is reported to be the moft sagiitr egies
fome part of Arabia Felix..

On the 18th, at feven in the morning, we firft difcovered
the mountains, under which lies the town of Loheia. Thefe
mountains bore north north-eaft of us, when anchored in
three-fathom water, about five miles from the fhore.. The:
bay is fo fhallow, and the tide being at ebb, we could get
no nearer; the town bore eaft north-eaft of us. Loheia is
built upon the fouth-weft fide of a peninfula, furrounded
every where, but on the eaft, by the fea. In the middle of
this neck there is a {mall mountain which ferves for a for-
trefs, and there are towers with cannon, which reach acrofs
on each fide of the hill to the fhore.. Beyond this is a plain,
where the Arabs intending to attack the town, generally
affemble. The ground upon which Loheia:ftands is black

earth,,

ae

*Tr fignifies Pharach’s. worms.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 307
earth, and feems to have been formed by the retiring of the
fea. At Loheia we had a very uneafy fenfation, a kind of
prickling came into our legs, which were bare, occafion-
ed by the falt effluvia, or fteams, from the earth, which all
about the town, and further to the fouth, is ftrongly impreg-
nated with that mineral.

Fisu, and butcher meat, and indeed all forts of provi-
fion, are plentiful and reafonable at Loheia, but the water
is bad. It is found in the fand at the foot of the mountains,
down the fides of which it has fallen in the time of the rain,
and is brought to the town in fkins upon camels. There is
alfo plenty of fruit brought from the mountains by the
Bedowé, who live in the fkirts of the town, and fupply it
with milk, firewood, and fruit, chiefly grapes and bananas.

THE government of the Imam is much more gentle
than any Moorifh government in Arabia or Africa; the
people too are of gentler manners, the men, from early
ages, being accuftomed to trade. The women at Loheia are
as folicitous to pleafe as thofe of the moft polifhed nations
in Europe; and, though very retired, whether married or
unmarried, they are not lefs careful of their drefs and
perfons. At home they wear nothing but a long fhift of
fine cotton-cloth, fuitable to their quality. They dye their
feet and hands with *henna, not only for ornament, but

as an aftringent, to keep them dry from fweat: they

wear their own hair, which is plaited, and falls in long tails
behind.
" Qq2 THE

* Liguftrum /Egyptiacum Latifolium.

308 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

_ Tug Arabians confider long and ftraight hait as -beaut®.
ful. The Abyflinians. prefer the fhort and curled. The —
_ Arabians perfume themfelwes and their fhifts with a come
pofition of mufk, ambergreafe, incenfe, and benjoin, which
they mix with the fharp horny nails that.are:at the extres —
mity of the fifh furrumbac ; but why. this ingredient is added’

I know not, as the fmell of it, when burnt, does not at all*
‘differ from that of horn. They putall thefe ingredients into. .
a. cae of cenfer on. charcoal, and ftand.over the fnroke of’

The fmell is very agreeable; but, in Europe, it would:

- a. Le opens article of. aes ,

Tur Arab women are not black, there are even fome ex.
ceedingly fair.. They are-more corpulent than the men, .
but are not much: efteemed.--The Abyflinian girls, whe —
are bought for money, are greatly preferred ; among other
reafons; becaufe their time of ‘bearing children is longer;
few Arabian women haye children after the age of twenty.

-Ar Loheia we received a-letter- froma Mahomet: Gibberti, .
telling us, that it would yet be. ten days before he could
join us, and-defiring us:to be ready by.that time: This hur-.
ried us extremely, for. we were much afraid we fhould not:
have time to fee the remaining part of the Arabian Gulf, to
where it.joins‘with the Indian Ocean,’

Qn. the 27th, in the evening, we parted from Loheia, but:
were obliged to tow the boat out.. About nine, we anchor--~
ed between an ifland called Ormook, and the land; about-
eleven. we fet fail with a-windat north-eaft, and polled: a:
multer of. ilands on our left..

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THE SOURCE OF THE NITE. 339°

Tue 28th, at five o'clock in the morning, we faw tlie
fmall ifland of Rafab; at a quarter after fix we patfied be-
tween it and a large ifland called Camaran, where there ¥s
a Turkifh garrifon and‘ town, and plenty of: good water.
At twelve we pafled a low-round ifland; which feemed to
confift of white fand. The weather being cloudy, I could
get no obfervation.. At one o’clock we were off.Cape Ifrael.

_As the weather was fair, and the wind’ due north and
fteady, though little.of. it, my Rais faid that we had better
firetch over to Azab, than run along the coaft in the direc-
tion we were now going, becaufe,; fomewhere between Ho--
deida and Cape Nummel, there was foul ground, with which:
he fhould not like to engage in:the night... Nothing could
be more agreeable to me.. For, though I knew the people
of Azab- were not to be trufted, yet there were two things
Ithought 1 might accomphfh, by being‘on my guard. The
one was, to learn what thofe ruins were that I had heard '
fo much fpoken: of in.Egypt and at Jidda, and which are -
fuppofed to. have-been works of the Queen: of Sheba, whofe
country this was: The other-was, to obtain the: myrrh'and .
frankincenfe-tree, which grow upon that coaft only, but:
neither of which had as yet been defcribed by:any author..

At four o'clock: we paffeda dangerous fhoal, which is :
the one I fuppofe our Rais was afraid of. If fo, he could not
have adopted a worfe meafure, than by ftretching over. from
Cape Ifrael-to Azab in the night; for, had the wind come
welterly, as itfoon.after did, we fhould have-probably been
on the bank; as it was, we paffed it fomething lefs than a
mile, the wind was north, and we were going ata great.
rate.. At fun-fet we faw Jibbel .Zckir, with three {mall

iflands, .

310 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

iflands, on the north fide of it. At twelve at night the
wind failing, we found ourfelves about a league from the
weft end of Jibbel Zekir, but it then began to blow frefh
from the weft; fo that the Rais begged liberty to abandon
the voyage to Azab, and to keep our firft intended one to
Mocha. For my part, I had no defire at all to land at Mocha.
Mr Niebuhr had already been there before us; and I was
fure every ufeful obfervation had been made as to the coun-
try, for he had ftaid there a very confiderable time, and was
ill ufed. We kept our courfe, however, upon Mocha town.

Tue z9th, about two o’clock in the morning, we paffed
fix iflands, called Jibbel el Ourée; and having but indiffer-
‘ent wind, we anchored about nine off the point of the fhoal,
which les immediately eaft of the north fort of Mocha..

Tue town of Mocha makes an agreeable appearance
from the fea. Behind it there is a grove of palm-trees, that
‘do not feem to have the beauty of thofe in Egypt, probably
owing to their being expofed to the violent fouth-wefters
that blow here, and make it very uneafy riding for veflels ;
there is, however, very feldom any damage done. The port
is formed by two points of land, which make a femi-circle.
‘Upon each of the points is a {mall fort; the town is in the
middle, and if attacked by an enemy, thefe two forts are fo
detached that they might be made of more ufe to annoy the
town, than they could ever be to defend the harbour. The
ground for anchorage is of the very beft kind, fand without
‘coral, which laft chafes the cables all over the Red Sea.

On the 3oth, at feven o’clock in the morning, with a gen=
tle but fteady wind at weft, we failed for the mouth of the
Indian

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE gi

Indian Ocean. Our Rais became more lively and bolder as.
he approached his own coaft, and offered to carry me for
nothing, if I would go home with him to Sheher, but I had
already enough upon my hand. It is, however, a voyage
fome man of knowledge and enterprife fhould attempt, as the
country and the manners of the people are very little known..
But this far is certain, that there all the precious gums
grow ; all the drugs of the galenical f-hool, the frankincenfe,.
myrrh, benjoin, dragons-blood, and a multitude of others,,
the natural hiftory of which no one has yet given us.

‘Tue coaft of Arabia, all along from Mocha to the Straits,.
is a bold coaft, clofe to which you may run without danger
night or day. We continued our courfe within‘a mile of
the fhore, where in fome places there appeared to be fmall
woods, in others a flat bare country, bounded with moun-.
tains at a. confiderable diftance. Our wind frefhened as we
advanced. About four in the afternoon we faw the moun-.
tain which forms one of the Capes of the Straits of Babel-.
mandeb, in fhape refembling a gunner’s quoin.. About fix.
o'clock, for what reafon I did not know, our Rais infift-.
ed upon anchoring for the night behind.a {mall point.. IL.
thought, at firft, it had been for pilots..

THE 314, at nine in the morning, we came to an anchor:
above Jibbel Raban, or Pilots Ifland, juft. under the Cape
which, on the Arabian fide, forms the north entrance of the
Straits. We now faw a {mall veflel enter a round harbour,
divided from us by the Cape. The Rais faid he had a de-
fign to have anchored there laft night; but as it was trouble-
fome to get out in the morning by the weifterly wind,

he intended to run over to Perim ifland to pafs the night,
f ie and

$82 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and give us an opportunity to make what.obfervations we
pleafed in quiet.

We caught here a prodigious quantity of the fineft fifth
that I had ever before feen, but the filly Rais greatly trou-
bled our enjoyment, by telling us, that many of the fith in
that part were poifonous. Several of our people took the
alarm, and abftained; the rule I made ufe of in choofing.
mine, was to take all thofe that were likeft the fifth of our
own northern feas, nor had I-ever. any reafon to complain,

Ar noon, I made an obfervation of ‘the fun, -juft under
the Cape of the Arabian fhore, with a Hadley’s quadrant, .
and found it to be-in lat. 12° 38’ 30”, but by many paflages
of the ftars, obferved by my large aftronomical quadrant
in the ifland of Perim, all deduétions made, I found the
true latitude of the Cape fhould be rather 12° 39’ 20” north.

Perm is a low ifland, its harbour good, fronting the
Abyffinian fhore. It is a barren, bare rock, producing, on
fome parts of it, plants of abfynthium, or rue, in others kelp,
that did not feem to thrive; it was at this time perfectly
fcorched by the heat of the fun,:and had only a very faint
appearance of having ever vegetated. The ifland itfelf
is about five miles in ‘length, perhaps ‘more, and about
two miles in breadth. It becomes narrower at both
ends. Ever fince we anchored at the Cape, it had begun to ©
blow ftrongly from the weft, which gave our Rais great
apprehenfion, as, he faid, the wind fometimes continued in
that point for fifteen days ‘together, This alarmed me not
a little, leaft, by miffing Mahomet Gibberti, we fhould lofe
@ur voyage. We had rice and butter, honey and flour.

| 2 The

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 313

The fea afforded us plenty of fith, and I had no doubt but
hunger would get the better of our fears of being poifon-
ed: with water we were likewife pretty well fupplied, but
all this was rendered ufelefs by our being deprived of fire.
In fhort, though we could have killed twenty turtles a-day,
- ali we could get to make fire of, were the fotten dry roots of
the rue that we pulled from the clefts of the rock, which,
with much ado, ferved to make fire for boiling our coffee.

‘Tue r1ft of Auguft we ate drammock, made with cold
«water and raw flour, mixed with butter and honey, but we
oon found this would not do, though I never was hungry,

in my life, with fo much good provifion about me; for,
‘befides the articles already fpoken of, we had two fkins of
swine from Loheia, and a {mall jar of brandy, which I had
kept exprefsly for a feaft, to drink the King’s health on ar-
Yiving in his dominions, the Indian Ocean. I therefore pro-
pofed, that, leaving the Rais en board, myfelf and two men
fhould crofs over to the fouth fide, to try if we could get
‘any wood in the kingdomrof Adel. This, however, did not
-pleafe my companions. We were much nearer the Arabian
fhore, and the Rais had obferved feveral people on land,
who feemed. to be fifhers.

Ir the Abyffinian {hore was bad by its being defert, the
‘danger of the Arabian fide was, that we fhould fall into the
hands of thieves. But the fear of wanting, even coffee,
- was fo prevalent, and the repetition of the drammock dole

fo difgufting, that we refolved to take a boat in the ‘even-
_ing, with two men armed, and fpeak to the people we had
feen. Here again the Rais’s heart failed him. He faid
the inhabitants on that coaft had fire-arms as well as we,
Vout Rr and

314 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and they could bring a million together, if they wanted
them, in a moment; therefore we fhould forfake Perim

ifland for the time, and, without hoifting in the boat, till .

we faw further, run with the veffel clofe to the Arabian
fhore. There, it was conceived, armed as we were, with
ammunition in plenty, we fhould be able to defend our-

felves, if thofe we had feen were pirates, of which I had not ©

any fufpicion, as they had been eight hours in our fight,
without having made one movement nearer us; but I was:
the only perfon on board that was of that opinion..

Upon attempting to get our veflel out, we found the
wind ftrong againft us ; fo that we were obliged, with great.
difficulty and danger, to tow her round the weft. point, at
the expence of many hard knocks, which fhe got by the
way. During this operation, the wind. had calmed confi-
derably; my quadrant, and every thing was on board; allour
arms, new charged and primed, were laid, covered with
a cloth, in the cabbin, when we found happily that the wind:
became due eaft,. and with the wind our refolution chan-.
ged. We were but twenty leagues to Mocha, and not a-
bove twenty-fix from Azab, and we thought it better,,
rather to get on our return to Loheia, than to flay and.
live upon drammock, or fight with the pirates for firewood..
About fix o’clock, we were under weigh. The wind be-

ing perfectly fair, we carried as much. fail as our veffel:-

would bear, indeed, till her mafts nodded again. But be-
fore we begin the account of our return, it will be neceflary-
to fay fomething of thefe famous Straits, the commu-
nication between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean..

A. THis,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 315

Tus entrance begins to fhew itfelf, or take a fhape be-
tween two capes; the one on the continent of Africa, the
other on the peninfula of Arabia. That on the African fide
is a high land, or cape, formed by a chain of mountains,
which run out in a point far into the fea. The Portuguefe,
or Venetians, the firft Chriftian traders in thofe parts, have
called it Gardefui, which has no fignification in any language.
But, in that of the country where it is fituated, it is called
Gardefan, and means the Straits of Burial, the reafon of which
will be feen afterwards. The cppofite cape is Fartack, on
the eaft coaft of Arabia Felix, and the diftance between them,
in a line drawn acrofs from one to another, not above fifty
leagues. The breadth between thefe two lands diminifhes
gradually for about 150 leagues, till at laft it ends in the
Straits, whofe breadth does not feem to me to be above fix
leagues. |

AFTER getting within the Straits, the channel is divided
into two, by the ifland of Perim, otherwife called Mebun. The
inmoft and northern channel, or that towards the Arabian
fhore, is two leagues broad at moft, and from twelve to
feventeen fathom of water. The other entry is three leagues
broad, with deep water, from twenty to thirty fathom. From
this, the coaft on both fides runs nearly in a north-weft di-
rection, widening as it advances, and the Indian Ocean grows
ftraiter. The coaft upon the left hand is part of the king-
dom of Adel, and, on the right, that of Arabia Felix. The
p2flage on the Arabian fhore, though the narroweft and fhal-
loweft of the two, is that moft frequently failed through,
and efpecially in the night; becaufe, if you do not round
the fouth-point of the ifland,as near as poflible, in attempt-
ing to enter the broad one, but are going large with the

Rr 2 wind

316 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

wind favourable, you fall in with a great number of low.
fmall iflands, where there is danger. At ten o’clock, with:
the wind fair, our courfe almoft north-eaft, we pafled three:
rocky iflands about a mile on our left

On the ad, at fan-rife, we faw land a-head, which we:
took to be the Main, but, upon nearer approach, and the day.
becoming clearer, we found two low iflands to the leeward ;.
one of which we fetched with great diffiiculty.. We found:
there the ftock of an old acacia-tree, and two or three bundles’.
of wreck, or rotten flicks, which we gathered with great’
care ; and all of us agreed, we would eat breakfaf , dinner, .
and fupper hot, inftead of the cold repaft we had made up--
on the drammock in the Straits. We now made feveral:
large fires ; one took the charge of the coffee, another boil--
ed the rice; we killed four turtles, made ready.a-dolphin 3:
got beer, wine, and brandy, and drank the King’s health in.
earneit, which our regimen would not allow us to do in:
the Straits of Babelmandeb. While this. good chear was
preparing, 1faw with my glafs, firft one man running along.
the coaft weftward, who did not ftop; about a quarter of an:
hour after, another upon a camel, walking at the ordinary- |
pace, who difmounted juft oppofite to us, and, as I thought, . |
kneeled down to fay his prayers upon the fand.. We had
launched our boat immediately upon feeing the trunk of:
the tree on the ifland; fo we were ready, and I ordered two.
of the men to row me on fhore, which they did..

Ir is a bay of but ordinary depth, with ftraggling trees,.
and fome flat ground along the coaft. Immediately behind
is a row of. mountains of a brownifh or black colour.. The ©
man. remained motionlefs, fitting on the ground, till’ the

boat

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE — 4r9-.

boat was afhore, when I jumped out upon the fand, being
armed with a fhort double-barrelled gun, a pair of piftols,
and a crooked knife. As foon as the favage faw me athore,
he made the beft of his way to his camel, and. got upon his.
back, but did not offer to.go away..

I sat down on the ground, after taking the white tur-
ban off my head, and waving it feveral times in token of.
peace, and feeing that he did not ftir, 1 advanced to him a-
bout a hundred ‘yards.. Still he ftood, and after again wav--
ing to him.with my hands, as inviting him: to approach, 1.
made a fign as if. 1. was returning to the fhore. Upon {ee-
ing this, he advanced feveral paces, and ftopt. I-then laid-
my gun down upon the land, thinking that had frightened.
him, and walked up as near him as he would ft affe: mie 5;
that is, till I faw he was preparing to goaway. I then wav-

_ ed my turban, and cried, Salam, Salam, He ftaid till I was.

within ten. yards of him: He was quite naked, was black,.
and had a fillet upon his head, either of a black or blue rag, -
and bracelets ot white beads upon both his arms. He ap--
peared as undetermined what to do.. I fpoke as difnctly
to him as | could, Salem Alicum.—He anfwered.fomething -
like Salam, but what it was I know: not.” Iam, faid I, a.
firanger from India, who came laft Ae the bay
of Zeyla,in the kingdom of-Adel.. He-nodded his head, and:
faid fomething in an unknown language, in ‘which I heard
the repetition of Tajoura and Adel. ‘I told-him-I wanted.
water, and made a fign of drinking. He pointed up. the.
coat to the sig waudl and faid, Raheeda, then made a fign of ©
drinking, and faid Zyée. I now found that he underftood-me,..
and aiked him where Azab was? he pointed to a mountain
yatt=

318 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

juft before him, and faid, Eh owah Azab Tybe, ftill with a
reprefentation of drinking.

I DEBATED with myfelf, whether I fhould not take this
favage prifoner. He had three fhort javelins in his hand,
and was mounted upon a camel. I was on foot, and above
the ancles in fand, with only two piftols, which, whether
they would terrify him to furrender or not, I did not know;.
I fhould, otherwife, have been obliged to have fhot him,
and this I did notintend. After having invited him as cour-
teoufly as I could, to the boat, I walked towards it my-.
felf, and, in the way, took up my, firelock, which was ly-
ing hid among the fand. I faw he did not follow mea ftep,
but when I had taken the gun from the ground, he fet off
at a trot as faft as he could, to the weftward, and we prefent-
ly loft him among the trees,

I RETURNED tothe boat, and then to dinner on the ifland,
which we named Traitor’s Ifland, from the fufpicious beha-
viour of that only man we had feen near it. This exeurfion
loft me the time of making my obfervation; all the ufe I
made of it was to gather fome flicks and camel’s dung,
which I heaped up, and made the men carry to the boat, to
ferve us for firing, if we fhould be detained. | The wind was
very fair, and we got under weigh by two o'clock.

Asout four we paffed a rocky ifland with breakers on its
fouth end, we left it about a mile to the windward of us.
The Rais called it Crab-ifland. About five o’clock we:came
+o an anchor clofe to a cape of no height, in a fmall bay,
in three fathom of water, and leaving a {mall ifland juft on
our ftern. We had not anchored here above ten minutes,

befare

THE SOURCE OF HE NILE, 419

before an old man and a boy came down to us. As they
had no arms, I went afhore, and bought a fkin of water.
Fhe old man had a very thievifh appearance, was quite na-
ked, and laughed or fmiled at every word he faid. He {poke
Arabic, but very badly; told me there was great plenty of
every thing in the country whither he would carry me. He
faid, moreover, that there was a king there, and a people that
loved ftrangers.

Tue murder of the boat’s crew of the Elgin Eaft-India-
man, in that very fpot where he was then fitting and praif
img his countrymen, came prefently into my mind. I
found my hand involuntarily take hold of my piftol, and I
was, for the only time in my life, ftrongly tempted to com-
mit murder. Ithought I faw in the looks of that old vag-
rant, one of thofe who had butchered fo many Englifhmen
in cold blood..

From his readinefs to come down, and being’ fo near
the place, it was next to impoffible that he was not one of
the party. A little reflection, however, faved his life :;
and I afked him if he could fell us a fheep, when he faid:
they were coming. Thefe words put me on my guard,
as I did not know how many people might accompany
them. I therefore defired him to bring me the water to the:
boat, which the boy accordingly did, and. we paid him, in:
cohol, or ftibium, to his wifhes..

IMMEDIATELY upon this I ordered them to'put the boat
afloat, demanding, all the time, where were the fheep? A:
few minutes afterwards, four flout young men came down,,.
dragging after them two lean goats, which the old man:

main-

30 £\'TRAVELS,TO DISCOVER

maintained to me were fheep. Each man had three light
javelins in his hand, and they began to wrangle exceeding-
ty about the animals, whether they were fheep or goats,
though they did not feem to underftand one word of our
language, but the words focep and Seat 1D, Arabic. In five
minutes after,their number increafed toeleven,and I thought
it was then full time for me to go on board, for every one of
them feemed, by his difcourfe and geftures, to be violently

agitated, but what they faid I could not comprehend. I drew
to the fhoré, and then put mytfelf on board as foon as pofii-
ble. They feemedto keep at a certain diftance, crying out
Belled, belled! and pomting to the land, invited me to come
afhore ; the old hypocrite alone feemed to have no fear, but
followed me clofe to the boat. I then refolved to have a free
.difcourfe with him, “ There is no need, faid I to the old
man, to fend for thirteen men to bring two goats. We
bought the water from people that had no lances, and we
can do without the fheep, though we could not want the
water, therefore, every man that has a lance in his hand
Jet him go away from me, or I will fire upon him.”

Tury feemed to take no fort of notice of this, and came
rather nearer. “ You old-grey headed traitor, faid I, do
you think [ don’t know what you want, by inviting me on
fhore; let all thofe about you with arms go home about
their bufinefs, or I will in a minute blow them all off the
face of the earth. He then jumped up, with rather more
agility than his age feemed to promife, and went to where
the others were fitting in a clufter, and after a little con-
yerfation the whole of them retived.

2 THE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 321

Tur old fellow and the boy now came down without
fear to the boat, when I gave them tobacco, fome beads, and
antimony, and did every thing to gain the father’s confidence.
But he ftill fmiled and laughed, and I faw clearly he hadtaken
his refolution. ‘The whole burden of his fong was, to per-
fuade me to come on fhore, and he mentioned every induce-
ment, and all the kindnefs that he would fhew me. “ It
is- fit, you old rogue, faid I, that, now your life is in my
hands, you fhould know how much better men there are
in the world than you. They were my countrymen, eleven
~ or twelve of whom you murdered about three years ago,
in the very place where you are now fitting, and though I
could have killed the fame number to-day, without any
danger to myfelf,I have not only let them go away, but
have bought and fold with you, and givenyou prefents, when,
according to your own law, I fhould have killed both you
and your fon. Now do not imagine, knowing what I know,
that ever you fhall decoy me afhore ; but if you will bring
me a branch of the myrrh tree, and of the incenfe tree to-
morrow, I will give you two fonduclis for each of them.”
He faid, he would do it that night. “ The fooner the bet-
ter, faid I, for it is now becoming dark.” Upon this he fent
away his boy, who in lefs than a quarter of an hour came:
back with a branch in his hand,

IcouLD not contain my joy, I ordered the boat to be drawn
upon the fhore, and went out to receive it ; but, to my great
difappointment, I found that it was a branch of Acacia,
or Sunt, which we had every where met with m Egypt, Sy-
ria, and Arabia. I told him, this was of no ufe, repeating

the word Gerar, Saiél, Sunt. We anfwered Eh owah Saié/; but
being afked for the myrrh (mour), he faid it was far up

Vet. I. Sf in

322 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

in the mountains, but would bring it to me if I would go
to the town. Providence, however, had dealt more kindly
with us in the moment than we expected. For, upon go-
ing afhore out of eagernefs to get the myrrh, I faw, not 2
quarter of a mile from us, fitting among the trees, at leaft.
thirty men, armed with javelins, who all got up the mo-
ment they faw me landed. I called to the boatmen to fet
the boat afloat, which they immediately did, and I got
quickly on board, near up to the middle in water; but as.
I went by the old man, I gave him fo violent a wae upon:
the face with the thorny branch in my hand, that it felled
him to the ground. The boy fled, and we rowed,off; but
before we took leave of thefe traitors, we gave them a dif- .
charge of three blunderbuffes loaded with piftol-fhot, im
the direction where, in all probability, they were lying to
fee the boat go off.

I prrectep the Rais to ftand out towards Crab-ifland,
and there being a gentle breeze from the fhore, carrying
an eafy fail, we ftood over upon Mocha town, to avoid fome:
rocks or iflands, which he faid were to the weftward..
While lying at Crab-ifland, I obferved two ftars pafs the
meridian, and a them I concluded the latitude of that
ifland to be 13° 2’45”’ North.

THE wind continuing moderate, but moreto the fouth-
ward, at three o’clock in the morning of the 3d, we pafled.
jibbel cl Ourée, then Jibbel Zekir; and having a fteady
zale, with fair and moderate weather, pafling to the weift-
ward of the ifland Rafab, between that and fome other
lands to the north-eaft, where the wind turned contrary,,
we arrived at. Loheia, the 6th,in the morning, being the

third

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 323

third day from the time we quitted Azab. We found every
thing well on our arrival at Loheia; but no word of Ma-
homet Gibberti, and I began now to Be uneafy. The rains
in Abyflinia were to ceafe the 6th of next month, Septem-
ber, and then was the proper time 108 our Rout y to oaks
dar.

TE only money in the country of the * Imam, is a fmall
piece lefs than a fixpence, and by this the value of all the
different denominations of foreign coin is afcertained. It
has four names, Commeth, Loubia, Muchfota, and Harf, but
the firft two of thefe are moft commonly ufed.

Tuis money is very bafe adulterated filver, if indeed
there is any init. It has the appearance of pewter; on the
one fide is written O/ma/;, the name of the Imam; on the o-
ther, Emir el Moumeneen, Prince of the Faithful, or True Be-
lievers ; a title, firft taken by Omar after the death of Abou
_ Beer; and fince, borne by all the legitimate Caliphs. There
are Tikewife Halfcommefhes, and thefe are the {malleft
{pecie current in pins ee

I VENETIAN SEQUIN, ----- - go }
¥ FONDUCLI, - - - - =- BO 929 Bok

COMMESHES
I BARBARY SEQUIN, - - - - - 80

I PATAKA, 07 IMPERIAL DOLLAR, 40 |

WueEn the Indian merchants or veffels are here, the fon-
ducli is raifed three commethes more, though all fpecie is
Siar as {carce

* Arabia Felix, or Yemen.

32h TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

f{carce in the Imam’s country, notwithftanding the quantity

continually brought hither for coffee, in filver patakas, that ~

is, dollars, which is the coin in which purchafes of any
amount are paid. When they are to be changed into com-
mefhes, the changer or broker gives you but 39 inftead of
40, fo he gains 2+ ger cent. for all money he changes, that 15,
by giving bad coin for good.

Tue long meafure in Yemen is the peek of Stamboul, as’

they call it; but, upon meafuring it with a ftandard of a
Stamboul peek, upon a brafs rod made-on purpofe; I found
it 26§ inches, which is neither the Stambouline peek, the
Hendaizy peek, nor the el Belledy peek. The peek of Stam-.
boul is 232 inches, fo this of. Loheia. is a cating ane datas
may be called * Yemani..

Tuz weights of Loheia are the rotolo, which are of two
forts, one of 140 drachms, and ufed in felling fine, the other
s60 drachms, for ordinary and coarfer goods... This laft is
divided into 16 ounces, each_ounce into 10: drachms ; 100 of
thefe rotolos are a fantar, or quintal.. The quintal of Yemen,
carried to Cairo or Jidda, is 113 rotolo, becaufe the rotolo of
thefe places is 144. drachms.. Their weights. appear to be of
Italian origin, and. were probably. brought hither when the
Venetians carried on this trade. There is another weight,
called. faranzala, which I take to. be the native one of the:
country. It is equal. to 20 rotolo, of 160 drachms each..

THE:

* That is, the Peek of Arabia Felix, or. Yemen. aad)

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 425.

Tue cuftoms, which at Mocha are three ger cent. upon In-
dia goods, are five here, when brought directly from Indias;
but all goods whatever, brought from Jidda by merchants,
whether Turks or natives, pay feven ger cent. at Loheia.

Loueia is in lat. 15° 40’ 52” north, and in long.. 42° 58’ 15”
eaft of the meridian of Greenwich.---The barometer, at its
higheft on the 7th day of Auguft, was 26° 9’, and its loweft
26° 1’, on the 30th of July.—-The thermometer, when at its
higheft, was 99° on the 3oth of the fame month, wind north-.
eaft; and its loweft was 81° on the. gine of Auguft, wind fouth:
by eaft.. .

On the 31ft of Auguft, at four o’clock in the morning.
I faw a comet for the firft time. The head of it was f{carce-:
ly vifible in the telefcope, that is, its precife form, which:
was a pale indiftincé luminous body, whofe edges were not:
at all defined. Its tail extended full 20°. It feemed to be:
a very thin vapour, for through it I diftinguifhed feveral:
ftars of the fifth magnitude, which feemed to be increafed:
infize. The end of its tail had loft.all its fiery colour, and
was very thin and white. I could diftinguifh no nucleus,.
nor any part that feemed redder or deeper than the reft ;:
for all was a: dim-ill-defined fpot. At 4" 1’ 24”, on the
morning of the 31ft, ic was diftant 20° go’ from Rigel; its.
tail extended to three ftars in Eridanus..

Tue ift.of September Mahomet Gibberti arrived, bring-
ing with him the firman for the Naybe of Mafuah, and let-
ters from Metical Aga to *Ras Michael.. He alfo brought

ween a letter

* Governor of the Province of Tigréin Abyfinia..

326 ‘TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

a letter to me, and another to Achmet, the Naybe’s nephew,
and future fucceflor, from Sidi Ali Zimzimia, that is, ‘ the
keeper of Ifhmael’s well at Mecca, called Zimzim. In this
letter, Sidi Ali defires me to put little truft in the Naybe, but
to keep no fecret from Achmet his nephew, who would cer-
tainly be my friend..

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 427

CHAP. XII.

Sails for Mafuah—Paffes aVolcano—Comes to Dahalac—Troubled with
a Ghofi—Arrives at Mafuah. ~
LL being prepared for our departure, we failed frons
Loheia on the 3d of September 1769, but the wind
failing, we were obliged to warp the veflel out upon her an-
chors. The harbour of Loheia, which is by much the largeft
m the Red Sea, is now fo fhallow, and choked up, that,
unlefs by a narrow canal through which we enter and go
out, there is no where three fathom of water, and in many -
places not half that depth. This is the cafe with all the
harbours on the eaft-coaft of the Red Sea, while thofe on
the weft are deep, without any banks or bars before them,
which is probably owing, as I have already faid, to the vio-
lence of the north-weft winds, the only conftant ftrong winds
to be met with in this Gulf. Thefe occafion ftrong cur-
rents to fet in upon the eaft-coaft, and heap up the fand apd
gravel which is blown in from Arabia.

ALL next day, the 4th, we were employed at warping out
our veilel againtt a contrary wind. The sth, at three quar-
ters pait five in the morning, we got under fail witly little

4 wind.

428 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

wind. At half paft nine, Loheia bore eaft north-eaft about
four leagues diftant; and here we came in fight of feveral
fmall, barren, and uninhabited iflands. Booarifh bore fouth-
weft two miles off; Zebid one mile and a half diftant, eaft
and by north; Amar, the fmalleft of all; one mile fouth ;
_ and Ormook, fouth-eaft by eaft two miles, ©

Tue Arabs of the mountain, who had tiveainiied to Carpet ;
Loheia in the {pring, now prepared for another attack a gaint
it, and had advanced within three days journey. This obli-
ged the Emir to draw together all his troops from the nei igh-
bourhood; all the camels were employed to lay in an ex-’
traordinary ftock of water.

Our Rais, who was a ftranger, and without connections
in this place, found himfelf under great difficulties to pro-
vide water enough for the voyage, for we had but a feanty
provifion left, and though our boat was no more than fixty
feet long, we had about forty people on board of her. [had
indeed hired the veffel for myfelf, but gave the Rais leave
to take fome known people paflengers on board, as it was
very dangerous to make enemies in the place to which I
was going, by fruftrating any perfon of his\ voyage home,
even though I paid for the boat, and ftill as dangerous to .
take a perfon unknown, whofe end in the voyage might be
to defeat my defigns. We were refolved, therefore, to bear
away for an ifland to the northward, where they {aid i
water was both good, and in plenty.

In the courfe of this day, we paffed feveral fmall iflands,
and, in the evening, anchored in feven fathom and a half of
‘water, near a fhoal diftant four leagues from Loheia. We

3 | there

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 329

there obferved the bearings and diftances of feveral iflands,
with which we were engaged; Foofht, W.b.N.+ north, four
leagues ; Baccalan N.W.b.W. three leagues ; Baida, a large
high rock above the water, with white fteep cliffs, and a
great quantity of fea-fowl; Djund, and Mufracken, two
large rocks off the weft point off Baccalan, W.N.W.; weft,
eleven miles ; they appear, at a diftance, like a large heap
of ruins: Umfegger,a very {mall ifland, nearly level with
the water, W.N.W.+ weft four miles diftant; Nachel, S.E.4E.
one league off; Ajerb S.E.b.E.4 fouth, two leagues; Sur-
bat, an ifland S.E.b.E. fouth, diftant ten miles; it has a
marabout or Shekh’s tomb upon it: Dahu and Dee, two
fmall iflands, clofe together, N.W.; weft, about eleven
miles diftant; Djua S.E.4 fouth; itis a fmall white ifland
four leagues anda half off: Sahar, W.+ north, nine miles off.

On the 6th, we got under fail at five o’clock in the morn-
ing. Our water had failed us as we forefaw, but in the |
evening we anchored at Foofht, in two fathoms water eaft
of the town, arid here ftaid the following day, our failors
being employed in filling our fkins with water, for they
make no ufe of cafks in this fea.

. Foosut is an ifland of irregular form. It is about five
miles from fouth to north, and about nine in circumference.
It abounds in good fifh. We did not ufe our net, as our
lines more than fupplied us. There were many kinds, paint-
ed with the moft beautiful colours in the world, but I al-

‘ways obferved, the more beautiful they were, the worfe for

eating. There were indeed none good but thofe that re-
fembled the fith of the north in their form, and plainnefs
of their colours. Foofht is low and fandy on the fouth, and

VoL. L et on

330 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER”

on the north is a black hill or cape of. no confiderable
height, that may be feen at four leagues off. It has two
watering-places; one on the eaft of the iland, where we
now were, the other on the weft.. The water there is bitter, ,
but it had been troubled by a number of little barks, that
had been taking in water juft before us. The manner of
filling their goat fkins being. a very flovenly one, they. take
up much of the mud along with it, but we found the water.
excellent, after it had fettled two or three days ; when it
came on board, it was as black as ink. It was incompara--
bly the beft water we had drank fince that of the Nile..

Turs ifland is covered with a kind of bent. grafs, which:
want of rain, and the conftant feeding of the few goats that
are kept here, prevent from growing to any height. The:
end of the ifland, near the north cape, founds.very hollow,,.
underneath, like Solfaterra, near Naples; and as quantities of.
pumice ftones are found here, there 1s. great appearance that:
the black hill was once a volcano: Several large {hells
from the fifh called Bifler, fome of thenl twenty inches.
long,.are feen. turned upon their faces, on the furface of
large ftones, of ten or twelve ton weight. Thefe fhells are:
funk into the ftones, as if they were into pafte, and the.
{tone raifed round about, fo as to conceal the edge of the
fhell; a proof that this ftone has, fome time lately, been foft:
or liquified. For, had it been long ago, the weather«and.
fun would have worn the furface of the fhell, but it feems.
perfectly entire, and is fet in that hard brown rock, as the:
ftone of a ring is in a golden chafing.

Tue inhabitants of Foofht are poor fifhermen, of the fame’
degree of blacknefs as thofe between Heli and Djezan; like
them

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 333

them too, they were naked, or had only a rag about their
waift. Their faces are neither ftained nor painted. They
catch a quantity of fifth called Seajan, which they carry to
Loheia, and exchange for Dora and Indian corn, for they
have no bread, but what is procured this way. They alfo
have a-flat fifh, with a long tail to it, whofe fkin is a fpecies
of fhagreen, with which the handles of knives and fwords
are made. Pearls too are found here, but neither large nor
of a good water, on the other hand, they are not dear ; they
are the produce of various fpecies of fhells, all Bivalves *.

‘THE town confifts of about thirty huts, built with fag-
gots of bent grafs or fpartum, and thefe are fupported with-
in witha few flicks, and thatched with the grafs, of which
they are built. The inhabitants feemed to be much terri-
fied at feeing us come a-fhore all armed ; this was not done
out of fear of them, but, as we intended to ftay on fhore all
night, we wifhed to be in a fituation to defend ourfelves
againft boats of ftrollers from the main. The faint, or Ma-
rabout, upon feeing me pafs near him, fell flat upon his
face, where he lay for a quarter of an hour; nor would he
get up till the guns, which I was told had occafioned his
fears, were ordered by me to be immediately fent on board.

Ow the 7th, by an obfervation of the meridian altitude
of the fun, I found the latitude of Foofht to be 15° 59’ 43”
north. There are here many beautiful fhell-fifh; the con-
cha veneris, of feveral fizes and colours, as alfo fea urchins,

WEY 2 or

* See the article Pearl in the Appendix,

332 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

or fea-eggs. I found, particularly, one of the pentaphylloid
- kind, of a very particular form. Spunges of the commor
fort are likewife found all along this coaft. The bearings
and diftances of the principal iflands from Foofht are :

Baccalan, and the two rocks Djund
and Mufracken, E.N. E.
Baida rock, E. by N. 4 miles..

t 4 miles..

Sahar; ) = = 4 SiBeg idoz
Ardaina, - W.N.W. 8 do.
Aideen, - - N.4E.9 do.

BaccALAn is.an ifland, low, long, and as broad as Foofht;,
inhabited by fifhermen; without water in fummer, whick
is then brought from Foofht, but in winter they preferve the.
rain-water in cifterns. Thefe were built in ancient times,
when this was a place of importance for the fifhing of pearls,.
and they are in perfect repair to this day; neither the ce-
ment of the work, nor the ftucco within, having at all fuf-.
fered. Very violent fhowers fall here from the end of Oc—
tober to the beginning of March, but at certain intervals..

Aut the iflands on this eaft-fide of the channel’ belong
to the Sherriffe-Djezan Booarifh, but none are inhabited ex-.
cept Baccalan and Foofht. This laft ifland is the moft con-
venient watering-placefor fhips, bound up the channel from
Jibbel Teir, from which-it bears N..E. by E..2 E. by the com-
pafs, ninetcen leagues diftant. It fhould be remembered;
however, that the weftern watering-place is moft eligible,.
becaufe, in that cafe, navigators need. not engage themfelves.
among the iflands to the eaftward, where they will have
uneven foundings two leagues from the land; but, though:

they.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 333

they fhould fall to the eaftward of this ifland, they will
have good anchorage, from nine to eighteen fathoms wa-
ter; the bottom being good fand, between the town and
the white rock Baida.

Havine fuppled our great and material want of water,
we all repaired on board in the evening of the 7th; we
then found ourfelves unprovided with another neceflary,
namely fire ; and my people began to remember how cold
our ftomachs were from the drammock at Babelmandeb.
Firewood is a very fcarce article in the Red Sea. It is, never-
thelefs, to be found in fmall quantities, and in fuch only it
is ufed. Zimmer, an ifland to the northward, was known
to afford fome; but, from the time I had landed at Foofht,
on the 6th, a trouble of a very particular kind had fallen
upon our veflel, of which Lhad: no account till I had return-
ed on board.. |

An Abyflinian, who had died on board, and who had
been buried upon our coming out from Loheia bay, had. ©
been feen upon the boltfprit for two nights, and had ter-
rified the failors: very much; even the Rais had been —
not a little alarmed; and, though he could not diredly
fay that he had feen him, yet, after I was in bed on the 7th,
he complained ferioufly to me of the bad confequences it
would produce if a gale of wind was.to rife, and the ghoft
was to keep his place there, and defired me to come forward.
and {peak to him. “ My good Rais,” faid I, “ lam exceedingly
tired, and my head.achs much with the fun, which hath.
been violent to-day. You know the Abyflinian paid for his:
paffage, and, if he does not overload the fhip, (and I appre-
hend he fhould be lighter than when we took him.on board).

4 I do

334 TRAVELS TO DISCGRER LT

I do not think, that in juftice or equity, either you or I can
hinder the ghoft from continuing his voyage to Abyfiinia,
as we cannot judge what ferious bufinefs he may have
there.” The Rais began to blefs himfelf that he did not
know any thing of his affairs.---“ Then, faid I,” “ if you do
not find he makes the veffel too heavy before, do not moleft
him; becaufe, certainly if he was to come into any other
part of the fhip, or if he was to infift to fit in the middle of
you (in the difpofition that you all are) he would be a great-
er inconvenience to you than in his prefent poft.” The
Rais began again to blefs himfelf, repeating a verfe of the
Koran; “bifmnilla fheitan rejem,” in the name of God keep
the devil far from me. “Now, Rais,” faid I, “if he does us
no harm, you will let him ride upon the boltfprit till he is
tired, or till he comes to Mafuah, for I {wear to you, unlefs
he hurts or troubles us, Ido not think I have any obliga-
tion to get out of my bed to moleft him, only fee that he
carries nothing off with him.

Tue Rais now feemed to be exceedingly offended, and
faid, for his part he did not care for his life more than any
other man on board; if it was not from fear of a gale of
wind, he might ride on the boltfprit and be d——n’d; but
that he had always heard learned people could fpeak to
ghofts. .Will you be fo good, Rais, faid I, to ftep forward,
and tell him, that lam going to drink coffee, and fhould
be glad if he would walk into the cabbin, and fay any thing
he has to communicate to me, if he is a Chriftian, and
if not, to Mahomet Gibberti. The Rais went out, but, as
my fervant told me, he would neither go himfelf, nor could
get any perfon to go to the ghof for him. He came back,
however, to drink coffee with me. I was very ill, and ap-

2 prehenfive

THEVWSOURCE OF THE: NILE, 335

prehenfive of what the French calla Coup de foleil. “ Go,
faid I to the Rais, to Mahomet Gibberti, who was lying juit
before us, tell him that ! am a Chriftian, and have no jurif
diction over ghofts in thefe feas.”

A moor called Yafme, well known to me afterwards, now
came forward, and told me, that Mahomet Gibberti had.
been very bad ever fince we. failed, with. fea-ficknefs, and
begged that I would not laugh at the {pirit, or fpeak fo fa-
miliarly of him, becaufe it might very poflibly be the devil,
who often appeared. in thefe parts. The Moor alfo defired
I would fend Gibberti fome coffee, and order my fervant to
boil him. fome rice with frefh water from Foofht; for hi-
therto our fifh and. our rice had been boiled. in fea water,,.
which I conftantly preferred. This bad news of my friend
Mahomet banifhed all merriment, I gave therefore the ne-
ceffary orders to my fervant. to wait upon him, and at the
fame time recommended to Yafine to go forward with the
Koran in his hand, and read all night, or till we fhould get
to Zimmer, and then, or in the morning, bring me an ac-

-count of what he had feen..

Tue 8th, early in the morning, we failed from Footht,.
but the wind being contrary, we did not arrive-at our def-
tination tilf near mid-day, when we anchored in an open.
road about half a mile from the ifland, for there is no har-
bour in Baccalan, Foofht, nor Zimmer. I then took my.
quadrant, and went with. the boat afhore, to. gather wood.
Zimmer.is a much: {mailer tfiand than Foofht, without in-
habitants, and without water; though, by the ciflerns which»
ftill remain, and are fixty yards fquare, hewed out of the folid:
rock, we ay imagine this was once a place of cont{e-

qUCICE =

336 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

quence: rain in abundance, at certain feafons, ftill falls
there. It is covered with young plants of rack tree, whofe
property it is, as I have already faid, to vegetate in falt wa-
ter. The old trees had been cut down, but there was a
confiderable number of Saiel, or Acacia trees, and of thefe
we were in want.

ALTuHouGH Zimmer is faid to be without water, yet there
are antelopes upon it, as alfo hyenas in number, and it is
therefore probable that there is water in fome fubterrane-
ous caves or clefts of the rocks, unknown to the Arabs or
fifhermen, without which thefe animals could not fubfift.
It is probable the antelopes were brought over from Arabia
for the Sherriffe’s pleafure, or thofe of his friends, if they
did not {wim from the main, and an enemy afterwards
brought the hyzna to difappoint that amufement., Be that
as it will, though I did not myfelf fee the animals, yet I
obferved the dung of each of them upon the fand, and in.
the cifterns ; fo the fact does not reft wholly upon the ve-
racity of the boatman. We found at Zimmer plenty of the
large fhell fifh called Biffer and Surrumbac, but no other.
I found Zimmer, by an obfervation of the fun at noon, to
be in lat. 16° 7’ North, and from it we obferved the follow-
ing bearings and diftances, |

Sahaanah, - - dift. go miles, - - 5S. by W.
Foofht, - - - do. .8 do. -' -.. N.WoibyN.7W
AIdEED om = = MO. 27 O.)) jn gg

Ardaina, .~ .- ‘, do; 2 do. .<.0 <j ie ya.
Rahha - - do. 6 dow - - N. W.EN.
Poohaarab - do 21 do - - WN. W.3 W.

WE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. ane

.We failed in the night from Zimmer. When we came
nearer the channel, the iflands were fewer, and we had ne-
ver lefs than twenty-five fathom water. The wind was
conftantly to the north and weft, and, during all the heat
of the day, N. N. W. At the fame time we had vifibly a
ftrong current to the northward.

Tue oth, at fix o'clock in the morning, the ifland Rapha
bore N. E. by eaft, diftant about two leagues, and in the
fame direction we {aw the tops of very high mountains in
Arabia Felix, which we imagined to be thofe above Djezan;
and though thefe could not be lefs than twenty-fix leagues
diftance, yet I diitinguifhed their tops plainly, fome mi-
nutes before fun-rife. At noon | obferved our latitude to
be 16° 10’ 3” north, fo we had made very little way this day,
it being for the mott part calm. Rapha then bore E.2 north,
diftant thirteen miles; and Doohaarab N. N. W. five miles
off. We continued under fail all the evening, but made
little way, and full lefs during the night.

On the roth, at feven in the morning, I firft faw Jibbel
Teir, till then it had been covered with a mift. I ordered
the pilot to bear down directly upon it. All this forenoon
our veffel had been furrounded with a prodigious number
of fharks. They were of the hammer-headed kind, and
two large ones feemed to vie with each other which
fhould come neareft our veffel. The Rais had fitted a large,
harpoon with a long line for the large fifh in the channel,
and I went tothe boltfprit to wait for one of the fharks,
after having begged the Rais, firft to examine if all was tight
there, and if the ghoft had done it no harm by fitting fo
many nights upon it. He fhook his head, laughing, and

VoL. I, Du faid,

338; TRAVELS: TO DISCOVER.

faid, “ The {harks feek fomething more {ubflantial tlfan
chofts.” “If Lam not miftaken, Rais, faid I, this ghof feeks
fomething more fubflanual toe, and you. dhall fee the end
of it.”

I srruck the: largeft fhark about a: foot from the head®
with ftich force, that the whole iron was buried in his bo-.
dy. He fhuddered, as a perfon does: whem cold, and fheok-
the fhaft of the harpoon out: of the fecket, the weapon
being made fo on purpofe; the fhaft fell acrofs, kept fixt to:
the line, and ferved as a float to bring him up when he di-
ved, and impeded him when he fwam.. No.falmon fifher -
ever faw finer {port with a fifh anda rod, He had thirty.
fathom of line-out, and:we had thirty fathom more ready to |
give him. He never dived, but failed round the veffel like
a fhip, always keeping part of his back above water.. The.
Rais, who directed us, begged we would not pull him, but
give him-as much more line as he wanted; and indeed we-
faw.it was the weight-of the line that galled him, for he
went round the veffel without: feeking to go farther.from -
us. At laft he came nearer, upon our’ gathering up the:
line, and upon gently pulling it after, we brought him along- -
fide, till we faftened a ftrong boat-hook in his throat: a.
man fwung upon a-cord was now let down to cut his tail,
while hanging on the fhip’s fide, but he was, if not abfolute-.
ly dead, without the power of doing harm. He was eleven:
feet feven inches from his fnout to his tail,,and nearly four
feet round in the thickeft part.of him. He had in. him a:
dolphin very lately fwallowed, and about half a yard of.
blue cloth. He was the largeft, the Rais faid, he had ever:
feen, either in the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean,

2. ABOUT.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 336

af

Azout twenty minutes before twelve o’clock we weré
about four leagues diftant from the ifland, as near as I
‘could judge upon a parallel. Having there taken my obs
fervation, and all deductions made, I concluded the latitude
‘of the north end of Jibbel Teir to be 15° 38’ north; thirty-.
two leagues weft longitude from Loheia, fifty-three eatt
Jongitude from Mafuah, ‘and forty-fix leagues eaft of the
meridian of jidda. Jibbel Teir, or the Mountain of the Bird,
as calied by others, Jibbei Douhan, or the Mountain of
Smoke. Iimagine that the fame was the origin of our
mame of * Gibraltar, rather than from Zarik, who firft landed
in Spain ; and one of my reafons is, that fo confpicuous
4 mountain, near, and immediately im the face of the moors
‘of Barbary, muft have been known by fome name, long be-
fore Tarik with his Arabs madé-his defcent into Spain.

Tue reafon of its being called Jibbel Douhan, the
Mountain of Smoke, is, that though, in the middle of
the fea, it is a volcano, which throws out fire,and though
nearly extiNguifhed, fmokes to this day. It probably
has been the occafion of the creation of great part of
the neighbouring iflands. Didit burn now, it would be of
great ufe'to fhipping in the night, but in the earlieft hif
tory of the trade of that fea, no mention is made of it, as in
a ftate of conflagration. It was-called Orneén in Ptolemy,
the Bird-Ifland, the fame as Jibbel Teir. It is likewife call-
ed Sheban, from the white fpot at the top of it, which feems
to be fulphur, and a part feems to have fallen in, and to

Uue2 “ . have

* Jibbel Teix, the Mountain of the Bird ; cortuptly, Gibraltar.

340 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

have enlarged the crater on this fide. The ifland is four
miles from fouth to north, has a peek in form of a pyramid
in the middle of it, and is about a quarter of a mile high.
It defcends, equally, on both fides, to the fea; has four open-
ings at the top, which vent {moke, and fometimes, in ftrong
foutherly winds it is faid to throw out fire. There was no
fuch appearance when we paffed it. The ifland is perfect-
ly defert, being covered with fulphur and pumice ftones..

Some journals that I have feen are full of indraughts,.
whirlpools, and unfathomable depths, all around this ifland:
I muft however take the liberty of faying to thefe gentle-
men, who are otherwife fo very fond of foundings as to
diftribute them all over the channel, that they have been
unfortunate in placing thdir unfathomable depths here,
and even foundings. It is probable thefe are occafioned
by the convulfions in the earth made by this volcano; but
the only indraught we faw was a {trong current fetting
northward, and there are foundings as far as three leagues
eaft of it, in 33 fathom water, with a fandy bottomn.. Between:
this and the ifland Rafab you have foundings from 20 to 35
fathom, with fand and rocks ; and on the north-eaft fide you
have good anchoring, from a league’s diftance, till within
a cable’s length of the fhore, and there is anchorage five
leagues S, W.. by. W. in twenty-five fathoms, and I believe
alfo, in the line from Loheia to Dahalac; the effects of the
convulfions of this vulcano. Such, at leaft,.is the informa-.
tion I procured at Mafuah from the pilots ufed to this na+
vigation in fearch of fulphur; fuch was the information al-.
fo of my Rais, who went twice loaded with that commo-:
dity to his own country at Mafcatte; no other people go:
there. Both Abyflinians and Arabians believe that this is:

the:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 34

theentry or paflage by which the devil comes up to this
world. |

Six leagues E. by S. of this ifland there is a dangerous:
fhoal. with great overfalls, on which a French fhip ftruck in.
theyear 1751,and was faved with very great difficulty. Jibbel-
Teir is the point trom which all our fhips, going to Jidda,
take their departure, after failing from Mocha, and pafling:
the iflands to the fouthward.

We left Jibbel Teir on the s 1th with little wind at weft, but
towardsmid-day it frefhened as ufual, and turnednorthward
to N.N. eaft. We were now in mid-channel, fo that we ftood'
on ftraight for Dahalac till half paft four, when a boy,
who went aloft, faw four iflands in a direction N. W. by
W.4+ weft. We were ftanding on with a frefh breeze, and’
all our fails full, when I faw, a little before fun-fet, a white--
fringed wave of the well-known figure of a breaker. I
eried to the Rais for God’s fake to fhorten fail, for I faw a
breaker. a-head, ftraight in our way. He faid there was no
fuch thing ; that] had miftaken it, for it was a fea-gull. A-
bout feven in the evening we ftruck upon a reef of coral’
rocks. Arabs are cowards. in all fudden dangers,. which
they confider as particular directions or mandates of pro-.
vidence, and therefore not to be avoided. Few uncultiva-
ted minds indeed have any calmnefs, orsimmediate refource:
in themfelves when in unexpected danger. The Arab fai-
lors were immediately for taking the boat, and - failing to.
the iflands the boy had feen. The Abyflinians were for cut-
ting up the planks and wood of the infide of the sete and:
making her a raft..

A VIOLENT

342 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

A vIOLENT difpute enfued, and after that.a battle, when
night overtook us, ftill faft upon the rock. The Rais and
Yafine, however, calmed the riot, when I begged the paf-
fengers would hear me. I told them, “You all know, or
fhould know, that the boat 1s mine, as | bought it with my
money, for the fafety and accommodation of myfelf and fer-
vants; you know, likewife, that [and my men are all well
armed, while you are naked; therefore do not imagine that ,
we will fuffer any of you to enter that boat, and fave your
lives at the expence of ours. -On this veffel of the Rais is
your dependence, in it you are to be faved or to perifh;
therefore all hands to work, and get the veflel off, while it
is calm; if fhe had been materially damaged, fhe had been
funk before now.” They ali feemed on this to take cou-
rage, and faid, they hoped I would not leave them. I told
them, if they would be men, I would not leave them while
there was a bit of the veflel together.

Tuz boat was immediately launched, and one of my
fervants, the Rais, and two failors, were put on board. They
were foon upon the bank, where the two failors got out,
who cut their feet at firft upon the white coral, but after-
wards got firmer footing. They attempted to pufh the fhip
backwards, but fhe would not move. Poles and handfpikes
were tried in order to ftir her, but thefe were not long
enough. In a word, there was no appearance of getting
her off before morning, when we knew the wind would
rife, and it was to be feared fhe would then be dafthed to
pieces. Mahomet Gibberti, and Yafine, had been reading
the Koran aloud ever fince the veffel ftrnck. I faid to them
in paffing, “Sirs, would it not be as wife for you to leave
your books till you get a-{hore, and lend a hand to the

people?”

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 349°

people ?? Mahomet anfwered, “that he was:fo.weak and
fick, that he could not ftand.’. But Yafine did not flight the:
rebuke, he ftripped himfelf naked, went forward on the:
veffel, and then threw himfelf into-the fea.. He, firitt, very
judicioufly, felt what room there was for flanding, and
found the bank was of confiderable breadth, and that we:
were ftuck upon the point of it; that it rounded, flanting
away afterwards, and feemed very deep at the fides, fo the:
people, ftanding on the right of it, could-mot reach the vef.-
fel to pufh-it, only thofe upon the point. The Rais and.
Yafine now-cried. for: poles and handfpikes, which were
given them; twomore men let themfelves down by the-fide, .
and ftood upon the bank. I then defired the Rais to get.
out a line, come.a-ftern with-the boat, and. a her.in the
fame direction that they pufhed..

As foon:as the boat could be towed a-ftern, a great cry.
was fet up; that fhe began to move. A little after, a-gentle-
wind juft made itfelf felt fromthe eaft, and the cry fron:
the Rais was, Hoift the fore-fail and put it a-back. This being
immediately done, and a-gentie breeze filling the-fore-fail :
at the time, they all pufhed, and the veffel flid gently off,.
free from the fhoal.: I cannot fay. I partook-of: the joy fo.
fuddenly as the others did. I had always fome fears a plank .
might: have been flarted; but we faw the advantage of a
veffel being fewed, rather than nailed together, as fhe not:
enly was unhurt, but made very-lttle water.. The people:
were ail exceedingly tired, and nobody.thought they could :
enough praife the courage and readinefs.of Yafine.. From.
that day he grew into confideration with me, which increa-
fed ever after, till my departure from Aby‘iinia. -

Tre

344 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue latitude of our place, at noon, had been 15° 32’ 12”.
I rectified my quadrant, and hung it up. Seeing the clear
of the Zyre not far from the meridian, I was willing to be
certain of that dangerous place we had fallen upon. By
two obfervations of Lucida Lyra, and Lucida Aquila, and by a
mean of both, I found the bank to be in lat. 15° 28’ 15”
north.

THERE was a circumftance, during the hurry of this
tranfaction, that gave us all reafon to be furprifed. The
ghoft was fuppofed to be again feen on the boltfprit, as if
pufhing the veffel afhore; and as this was breaking cove-
nant with me, as a paflenger, I thought it was time fome
notice {fhould be taken of him, fince the Rais had referred
it entirely tome. I inquired who the perfons were that
had feen him. Two moors of Hamazen were the firft that
perceived him, and afterwards a great part of the crew
had been brought to believe the reality of this vifion. I
called them forward to examine them before the Rais, and
Mahomet Gibberti, and they declared that, during the night,
they had feen him go and come feveral times ; once, he was
pufhing againft the boltfprit, another time he was pulling
upon the rope, as if he had an anchor afhore ; after this
he had avery long pole, or ftick, in his hand, but it 1eemed
heavy and ftiff, as if it had been made of iron, and when
the veffel began to move, he turned into a fmall blue flame,
ran along the gunnel on the larboard fide of the fhip, and,
upon the veflel going off, he difappeared. “Now, faid I, “it
is plain by this change of fhape,-that he has left us for
ever, let us therefore fee whether he has done us any
harm or not. Hath any of you any baggage {towed for-
wards ?” The ftrangers anfwered, “ Yes, it is all there.” Tnen

faid

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 345

faid I, go forward, and fee if every man has gothis own. They
- all did this without lofs of time, when a great noife and con-
fufion enfued ; every one was plundered of fomething, ftibi-
um, nails, brafs wire, incenfe and beads; in fhort, all the
precious part of their little ftores was ftolen.

Att the paflengers were now in the utmoft defpair, and
began to charge the failors. “I appeal to you, Yafine and
Mahomet Gibberti, faid I, whether thefe two moors who
faw him ofteneft, and were moft intimate with him, have
not a chance of knowing where the things are hid;
for in my country, where ghofts are very frequent, they are
always affifted in the thefts they are guilty of, by thofe
that fee and converfe with them. I fuppofe therefore it is
the fame with Mahometan ghofts.” “ The very fame, faid
Mahomet Gibberti and Yafine,as far as ever we heard.”
“ Then go, Yafine, with the Rais, and examine that part of
the fhip where the moors flept, while I keep them here ;
and take two failors with you, that know the fecret places.”
Before the fearch began, however, one of them told Yafine
where every thing was, and accordingly all was found and
reftored. I would not have the reader imagine, that I here
mean to value myfelf, either upon any fupernatural know-
Jedge, or extreme fagacity, in fuppofing that it was a piecc
of roguery from the beginning, of which I never doubted.
But while Yafine and the failors were bufy pufhing off the
veflel, and I a-ftern at an obfervation, Mahomet Gibberti’s
fervant, fitting by his mafter, faw one of the moors go to
the repofitory of the baggage, and, after ftaying a little,
come out with a box and package in his hand. This he
told his mafter, who informed me, and the ghoft finding
his affociates difcovered, never was feen any more.

Vou. I, x xX THE

346 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

THE 12th, in the morning, we found that this fhoal was a
fand bank, with a ridge of coral rocks upon it, which
ftretches hither from Selma, and ends a little farther to the
northward in deep water. At fun-rife the iflands bore as
follow :—

Wowcan, - - diftant © 5 miles =%-0)8 SAE.
Selma (= =) dow). |=" 3°)idou) siit'=-a06

Megaida +)" do), = of4) dod.’ sec ee
Zober - - - do - 4 do. - - W.by S45.
Racka =) dow = 9) dood + ts e NENG ME
Furfh - - do - 4 do - - NW.byN.LN

Tuese iflands lie in a femi-circle round this fhoal.
There were no breakers upon it, the fea being fo perfectly
calm. I fuppofe if there had been wind, it would have bro-
ken upon it, as I certainly faw it do before we ftruck ; be-
tween Megaida and Zober is a {mall fharp rock above the
furface of the fea.

We got under fail at fix in the morning, but the wind
was very faft decaying, and foon after fell dead-calm. To-
_ wards eleven, as ufual, it frefhened, and almoft at due north.
At noon I found our lat. to be 15° 29’ 33” north, from which
we had the following bearings :---

Selma, =. diftant - smiles, - - 8.E.ZS.
Megaida,. ‘= \ don iyi 4) 4 iirdend) eieeneweE Es
Zober, - doz)! i=) a0 2 (dG ie ie 5.
Dubia,-'= doy =<) 9 dev ye = = Wale
Rackas! iis idan oy) = TOs, yj!) MIN
Beyoume, - do - - 5 do - - - N,W.byN.

Gigala, |

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 347

‘Cigala, - diftant - O6miles, - - N.
Mm Purth,' =, do. i- .-' 3): do. =~ - NE. byN.EN:

---and the rocks upon which we ftruck, E. by S.4S. fome-
thing lefs than five miles off.

Ar four o’clock in the afternoon we faw land, which our
pilot told us was the fouth end of Dahalac. It bore weft by
fouth, and was diftant about nine leagues. As our courfe
was then weft by north, I found that we were going whi-
ther I had no intention to land, as my agreement was to
touch at Dahalac el Kibeer, which is the principal port, and
on the fouth end of the ifland, where the India fhips for-
merly ufed to refort, as there is deep water, and plenty of
fea-room between that and the main. But'the freight of
four facks of dora, which did not amount to ten fhillings,
was fufficient to make the Rais break his word, and run
a rifk of cancelling all the meritorious fervices he had fo
long performed for me. So certain is it, that none of thefe
people can ever do what is right, where the fmalleft trifle is
thrown into the fcale to bias them from their duty.

Ar fix in the evening we anchored near a fmall ifland
called Racka Garbia, or Weft Racka, in four fathom of ftony-
ground. By a meridian altitude of Lucida Aquila, lconcluded
the lat. to be15° 31’ 30” north, and our bearings as follow:---

Dallacken, - diftant - 3 miles, - - N.E.E.

« Dalgroufht, - do. - 5 do. - - S.E.byE.4S.
Dellefheb, ~- - do. -6 do. -.- EN.EZE.
Dubia, at) doe 2 ts’) “do, - - E.byS.4S.
Racka Garbia, - do. -2 do - - S.W.byW.35.

XX 2 ON
*

348 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

On the 13th, a little after fun-rife, we continued our courfe’ _

weft, and a very little foutherly, with little wind.. At eight
o clock we paffed Dalgroufht, north by eaft about a league
diftance, and a new ifland, Germ Malco, weft by north. At
noon, I obferved our latitude. to be 15° 33'13” north; and
our bearings as follow :--

Dallacken, - - diftant - 6 miles, - - E.byS-
Racka, - - do. - 6 do - - SE. bySs
Germ.Malco, - da. -6 do. - - S.S.W..
Dalgroufht, - - do - 4 do. - - E.N.E..
Dennifarek, - do. -7 do - .- NNW..
Seide el Arabi, - do. - 4 do. - -. W.byS:
Dahal Coufs,- - do. -9. do. = N. W. byN..

Tue fouth cape of the ifland of Dahalac is called: Ras:
Shouke, which, in Arabic, means the.Cape of Thorns, becaufe
upon it are a quantity of funt, or acacia, the thorny-tree
which bears the gum-arabie.. We continued our, courfe
along the eaft fide of Dahalac, and, at four o’clock. in the

afternoon, faw Irwée,.which is faid to anfwer to the centre.

of the ifland. It bore then fouth-weft of us four miles. We:
alfo faw two fmall iffands, Tarza.and Siah-el Sezan; the firft,,
north by weft three miles; the fecond, north-eaft by. eaft,
but fomething farther. After having again violently ftruck
on the coral rocks in the entry, at fun-fet we anchored in:
the harbour of Dobelew..

Tuts harbour is in form circular, and_fufficiently defend:
ed from all winds, but its entrance is too narrow, and with--
in, it is full of rocks. The bottom of the whole port is co-.
vexed with large ramifications of white coral, with, huge

black

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 549

Black ftones; and I could no where obferve there were above
three fathom water, when it was full fea. The pilot in-
deed faid there were feven, or twelve at the mouth; but fo
violent a tide rufhed in through the entrance, that no vefiel
could efcape being driven upon the rocks, therefore I made
no draught of it.

DoseELew is a village three miles fouth-weft of the har--
bour. It confifts of about eighty houfes, built of ftone
drawn from the fea ; thefe calcine like fhells, and make good
enough morter, as weil as materials for building before
burning. All the houfes are covered with bent-grafs, like
thofe of Arabia.. The 17th, I got my large quadrant a-fhore,
and obferved the fun in the meridian in that village, and
determined the lat. of its fouth-weft extremity, to.be 15°42’ 22”
north..

IrwEE is a village ftill {mailer than Dobelew, about four
miles diftant. From this obfervation, compared with our
account, we computed the fouthern cape of Dahalac, called
Ras Shouke, to be in lat. 15° 27’ 30”; and Ras Antalou, or the
north cape, to be in lat..15° 54’ 30” north..

Tue whole length of the ifland, whofe direction is from
north-weit to fouth-eaft, is thirty-feven miles, and its great-
eft breadth. eighteen, which did within a very. little agree
with the account the inhabitants gave us, who made its:
length.indeed fomething more..

Daunatac is by far the largeft ifland in the Red’ Sea; as
none, that we had hitherto feen, exceeded five miles in
length. It is low and even, the foil fixed gravel and white

fand,,

350 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fand, mixed with fhells and other marine productions. It
is deftitute of all forts of herbage, at leaft in fummer, unlefs
a fmall quantity of bent grafs, juft fufficient to feed the few
antelopes and goats that are onthe ifland. There is a very
beautiful fpecies of this laft animal found here, {mall, fhort-
haired, with thin black fharp horns, having rings upon them,
and they are very fwift of foot,

Tuts ifland is, in many places, covered with large plan-
tations of Acacia trees, which grow to no height, feldom a-
bove eight feet, but {pread wide, and: turn flat at top, pro-
bably by the influence of the wind from the fea. Though
in the neighbourhood of Abyffinia, Dahalac does not par-
take of its feafons: no rain falls here, from the end of
March to the beginning of October; but, in the intermedi-
ate months, efpecially December, January, and February,
there are violent fhowers for twelvé hours at a time, which
deluge the ifland, and fill the cifterns fo as to ferve all next
fummer; for there are no hills nor mountains in Dahalac,
and confequently no fprings. Thefe cifterns alone preferve
the water, and of them there yet remain three hundred and
feventy,-all hewn. out of the felid rock, ‘They fay thefe
were the works of the Perfians ; it is more probable they
were thofe of the firft Ptolemies. But whoever were the
conftructors of thefe magnificent refervoirs, they were a
very different people from thofe that now poflefs- them,
who have not induftry enough to keep one of the three
hundred and feventy clear for the ufe of man. All of them
are open to every fort of animal,-and half full of the filth
they leave there, after drinking and wafhing in them. The
water of Dobelew, and Irwée, tafted flrong of mufk, from
the dung of the goats and antelopes, and the {mell before

4 vor

—snaiee

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 351

you drink it is more naufeous than the tafte; yet one of
thefe cifterns, cleaned and fhut up with a door, might afford
them wholefome fweet water all the year over.

Arter the rains fall, a prodigious quantity of grafs im-
mediately {prings up; and the goats give the inhabitants
milk, which in winter is the principal part of their fubfift-
ence, for they neither plow nor fow. All their employ-
ment is to work the veflels which trade to the different
parts of the coaft. One half of the inhabitants is conftantly
on the Arabian fide, and by their labour is enabled to fur-
nifh with * dora, and other provifions, the other half who
ftay at home; and when their time is expired, they are re-
lieved by the other half, and fupphed with neceflaries in
their turn. But the fuftenance of the poorer fort is en-
tirely fhell and other fifh. Their wives and daughters are
very bold, and expert fifher-women. Several of them, en-
tirely naked, fwam off to our veflel before we came to an
anchor, begging handfuls of wheat, 'rice, or dora. They
are very importunate and fturdy beggars, and not eafily put
off with denials. Thefe miferable people, who live in the
villages not frequented by barks from Arabia, are fome-
times a whole year without tafting bread. Yet fuch is the
attachment to the place of their nativity, they prefer living
in this bare, barren, parched fpot, almoft in want of necefla-
ries of every kind, efpecially of thefe effential ones, bread
and water, to thofe pleafant and plentiful countries on both
fides of them. This preference we muft not call flrange,
for it is univerfal: A flrong attachment to our native

. country,

* Millet, or Indian corn.

352 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

country, whatever is its condition, has been imprefied by:
Providence, for wife ends, in the breafts of all nations; from
Lapland to the Line, you find it written precifely in the
fame character.

TueEre are twelve villages, or towns, in Dahalac, little dif-
ferent in fize from Dobelew; each has a plantation of doom-
trees round it, which furnifh the only manufacture in the |
ifland. The leaves of this tree, when dried, are of a glofly
white, which might very eafily be miftaken for fattin; of
‘thefe they make baikets of furprifing beauty and neatnefs,.
{taining part of the leaves with red or black, and working
them into figures very artificially. I have known fome of
thefe, refembling ftraw-baikets, continue full of water for
twenty-four hours, without one drop coming through. They
fell thefe at Loheia and Jidda, the largeft of them for four
commefh, or fixpence. This is the employment, or rather
amufement of the men who flay at home; for they work
but very moderately at it, and all of them indeed take fpe-
cial care, not to prejudice their health by any kind of fatigue
from induftry,

Peorxe of the better fort, fuch as the Shekh and his rela-~
tions, men privileged to be idle, and never expofed to the
fun, are of a brown complexion, not darker than the inha-
bitants of Loheia. But the common fort employed in fifh-
ing, and thofe who go conftantly to fea, are not indeed
black, but red, and little darker than the colour of new
mohogany. There are, befides, blacks among them, who
come from Arkeeko and the Main, but even thefe, upon
marrying, grow lefs black in a generation,

i THE

a

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 353

‘Tue inhabitants of Dahalac. feemed to be a fimple, fear
ful, and inoffenfive people. It is the only part of Africa, o
Arabia, (call it which you pleafe) where you fee no one
carry arms of any kind; neither gun, knife, nor fword, is
to be feen in the hands of any one. Whereas, at Loheia,
and on all the coaft of Arabia, and more particularly at
‘Yambo, every perfon goes armed; even the porters, naked,
‘and groaning under the weight of their burden, and heat
of the day, have yet a leather belt, in which they carry a
«crooked knife, fo monftroufly long, that it needs a particu-
ar motion and addrefs in walking, not to lame the bearer.
This was not always the cafe at Dahalac; feveral of the Por-
tuguefe, on their firft arrival here, were murdered, and the
ifland often treated ill, in revenge, by the armaments of that
mation. The men feem healthy. They told me they had
no difeafes among them, unlefs fometimes in Spring, when
the boats of Yemen and Jidda bring the fmallzpox among
them, and very few efcape with life that are infeted. I could

not obferve a man among them that feemed to be fixty

years old, from which I infer, they are not long livers,
though the air fhould be healthy, as being near the chan-
nel, and as they have the north wind all fummer, which
moderates the heat.

Or all the iflands we had paffed on this fide the channel,
Dahalac alone is inhabited. It depends, as do all the reft,
upon Mafuah, and is conferred by a firman from the Grand
Signior, on the Bafha of Jidda; and, from him, on Metical
Aga, then on the Naybe and his fervants. The prefent go-
vernor’s name was Hagi Mahomet-Abdel cader, of whom
I have before fpoken, as having failed from Jidda to Mafuah
before me, where he did me all the dif-fervice in his power,

Voz. I. ? Ny and

354 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and nearly procured my aflaffination. The revenue of this:
governor confifts in a goat brought to him monthly by each
of the twelve villages. Every veflel, that puts in there for.
Mafuah, pays him alfo a pound of coffee, and every one
from Arabia, a dollar or pataka. No fort of fmall money is.
current at Dahatac, excepting Venetian glafs-beads, old and.
new, of all fizes and colours, broken and whole..

ALTuHoucGH this is the miferable ftate of Dahalac at pre=-
fent, matters were widely different in former times.. The
pearl fifhery flourifhed greatly here, under the Ptolemies 3;
and even long after, in the time of the Caliphs, it produced a
great revenue, and, till the fovereigns of Cairo, of the prefent
miferable race of flaves, began to withdraw themfelves
from their dependency on the port (for even after. the reign
of Selim, and the conquefts of Arabia, under Sinan Bafha,
the Turkifh gallies were ftill kept up at Suez, whilft Ma-
fuah and Suakem had Bafhas) Dahalac was: the principal
land that furnifhed the pearl fifhers, or divers. It was,
indeed, the chief port for the fifhery on the fouthern part
of the Red Sea, as Suakem was on the north; and the
Bafha of Mafuah paffed part of every fummer here, to avoid.
the heat at his place of refidence on the Continent.. _

Tue fifhery extended from Dahalac and its iflands nearly.
to lat. 20°. The inhabited iflands furnifhed each a bark;
and fo many divers, and they were paid in wheat, flour, &c.
fuch a. portion-to each bark, for their ufe, and fo much to
leave with their family, for their fubfiftence; fo that a.
few months employment furnifhed them with every thing:
nece“ary forthe reft of the year. The fifhery was rented,,
im latter times, to,the Baiha.of Suakem, but there was a place:

between:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 355

between Suakem, and the fuppofed river Frat, in lat. 21° 28!
north, called Gungunnah, which was referved to the Grand
Signior in particular, and a fpecial officer was appointed to
receive the pearls on the fpot, and fend them to Conftanti-
nople. The pearls found there were of the largeft fize, and
inferior to none in water, or roundnefs. ‘Tradition fays,
that this was, exclufively, the property of the Pharaohs, by
which is meant, in Arabian manufcrip’s, the old kings of
Egypt before Mahomet.

In the fame extent, between Dahalac and Suakem, was
another very valuable fifhery, that of * tortoifes, from
which the fineft fhells of that kind were produced, and a
great trade was carried on with the Eaft Indies, (China ef-
pecially) at little expence, and with very confiderable pro-
fits. The animal itfelf (the turtle) was in great plenty, be-
tween lat. 18° and 20°, in the neighbourhood of thofe low
fandy iflands, laid down in my chart.

Tue India trade flourifhed exceedingly at Suakem and
Mafuah, as it had done in the profperous time of the Ca-
liphs. The Banians,(then the only traders from the Eaft
Indies) being prohibited by the Mahometans to enter the
Holy Land of the Hejaz, carried all their veffels to Konfo-
dah in Yemen, and from thefe two ports had, in return, at
the firft hand, pearls, tortoife-fhell, which fold for its weight
of gold, in China; Tibbar, or pure gold of Sennaar, (that
from Abyflinia being lefs fo) elephant’s teeth, rhinoceros

| Yy2 horns

* See the article Tortoife. in the Appendix.

356 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

horns for turning, plenty of gum Arabic; caffia, myrrff,,
frankincenfe, and many other precious articles ; thefe were -
all bartered, at Mafuah and Suakem, for India.goods. But.
nothing which violence and injuftice can ruin, .ever can..
fubfift under Turkifh government. The Bafhas paying dears -
ly for their confirmation at Conftantinople, and uncertain-
if they fhould hold this office long enough to naake.reim-
burfements.for.the money they had.already advanced, had ‘
not patience to ftay till the courfe of trade gradually indem-
nified them,. but proceeding from extortion to extortion, |
they at laft became downright robbers; feizing the cargo
of the fhips wherever they could find them, and exercifing-
the moft fhocking-cruelties on the perfon they belonged: to, ,
flaying the factors alive, and impaling thofe that remained !
in their hands, to obtain, by.terror, remittances from India. .
The trade was thus abandoned, and: the revenue -ceafed. .
There were no bidders at Conftantinople for the. farm, no-.
body had trade in their-heads when their lives were every -
hour in danger. Dahalac: became therefore dependent on:
the Bafha of Jidda, and he appointed an * Aga, who paid:
him a moderate fum, and appropriated to himfelf ‘the pro- -
vifions and falary allowed for the pearlfifhery, or the great -
eft part of them.

Tur Aga at Suakem endeavoured, in vain, to make the >
Arabs and people near him work without falary, fo they.
abandoned an employment which produced nothing but.
punifhment; and, in time, they grew ignorant of the-fifhery.

Lik s:

* A Subaltern Governor...

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 357°

in which they once were fo well fkilled and had been edu-

cated. This great nurfery of feamen therefore was loft, and
the gallies, being no longer properly manned, were either
given up’to rot, or turned:into. merchant-fhips for carrying.
the coffee between Yemen and Svez, thefe vefflels were-un--
armed; and indeed-incapable of armament, and unfervice-

able by their conftruction; befides, they: were ill-manned,.
and fo carelefsly and ignorantly navigated, that there was:
not a year, that one or more did not founder, not from ftrefs

of weather, (for they were failing ina pond) or from any
thing, but ignorance, or-inattention. .

TRADE took again its ancient courfe towards Jidda. The’
Sherriffe of Mecca, and all the Arabs, were interefted to get’
it back to Arabia, and with it the government of their own
countries, That the pearl fifhing might, moreover, no
longer be an allurement for the Turkifh power to main-~
tain itfelf here, and opprefs them, they difcouraged the.
practice of diving, till it grew into defuetude; this brought*
infenfibly all the people of the iflands to the continent, .
where they were employed in coafting veflels, which con--
tinues their only occupation to this day. This policy fuc-
eceded ; the princes of Arabia became again free from the
Turkifh power, now but‘a fhadow, and Dahalac, Mafuah, .
and Suakem, returned to-their ancient mafters, to which
they are fubject at this inftant, governed indeed by Shekhs
of their own country, and preferving only the name of
Turkith government, each being under the command of.a-
robber and affaifin. .

Tue immenfe treafures in the bottom of the Red Sea,.
have tius. been abandoned for near two hundred. years, .
2- thoughr

458 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

though they never were richer in all probability than at pre-
fent. No nation can now turn them to any profit, but the
Englifh Eaft India Company, more intent on multiplying the
number of their enemies, and weakening themfelves by
fpreading their inconfiderable force over new conquefts, than
creating additional profit by engaging in new articles of
commerce. A fettlement upon the river Frat, which never yet
has belonged to any one but wandering Arabs, would open.
them a market both for coarfe and fine goods from the
fouthern frontiers of Morocco, to Congo and Angola, and fet
the commerce of pearls and tortoife fhell on foot again. All
this fection of the Gulf from Suez, as Iam told, is in their
charter, and twenty fhips might be employed on the Red
Sea, without any violation of territorial claims. The myrrh,
the frankincenfe, fome cinnamon, and variety of drugs, are
all in the poffeffion of the weak king of Adel, an ufurper,
tyrant, and Pagan, without protection, and willing to trade
with any fuperior power, that only would fecure him a
miferable livelihood. i

Ir this does not take place, 1 am perfuaded the time is
not far off, when thefe countries fhall, in fome fhape or
other, be fubjects of a new mafter. Were another Peter, a-
nother Elizabeth, or, better than either, another Catharine
to fucceed the prefent, in an empire already extended to
China;—were fuch a fovereign, unfettered by European poli-
tics, to profecute that eafy tafk of pufhing thofe mounte-
banks of fovereigns and ftatefmen, thefe ftage-players of
government, the Turks, into Afia, the inhabitants of the
whole country, who in their hearts look upon her already
as their fovereign, becaufe fhe is the head of their religion,
would, I am perfuaded, fubmit without a blow that in-

ftant

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 359)

ftant the Turks were removed on the other fide of the Hel--
lefpont.

Tuere are neither horfes, dogs, fheep, cows, nor any fort
of quadruped, but goats, affes, a few half-ftarved camels
and antelopes at Dahalac, which laft are very numerous.
The inhabitants have no knowledge of fire-arms, and there:
are no dogs, nor beafts of prey in the iflahd to kill them ;.
they catch indeed fome few of them in traps.

On our arrival at Dahalac, on the rath, we faw fwallows:
there, and, on the 16th, they were all gone. On our land-
ing at Mafuah, on the 19th, we faw a few; the 21ft and 22d
they were in great flocks; on the 2d of October they were.
all gone. It was the blue long-tailed fwallow, with the flat:
head; but there was, likewife, the Englifh martin, black,,
and darkith grey in the body, with a white breaft..

Tue language at Dahalac is that of the Shepherds; Arabic:
too is fpoken by moft of them. From this ifland we fee:
the high mountains of Hade/b, running in an even ridge like:
a wall, parallel to the coaft, and down to Suakem.

Berore I leave Dahalac, [mutt obferve; that, in a wretch--
ed chart, in the hands of fome of the Englifh gentlemen at
Jidda, there were foundings marked all along. the eaft-
coaft of Dahalac, from thirteen to thirty. fathoms, within
two leagues of the fhore.. Now, the iflands I have men-
tioned occupy a much larger fpace than that; yet none of
them are fet down in the chart; and, where the foundings
are marked thirty, forty, and even ninety fathom, all is full
of fhoals under water, with iflands and funken coral rocks,

2h fome.

360 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fome of them near the furface, though the breakers do not
appear upon them, partly owing to the waves being ftea-
died by the violence of the current, and fomewhat kept off
by the ifland. This dangerous error is, probably, owing to
the draughts being compofed from different journals, where
the pilot has had different ways of meaturing his diftance ;
fome ufing forty-two feet toa thirty-fecond glafs, and fome
twenty-eight, both of them being contidered as one com- .
petent divifion of a degree; the diftances are all too fhort,
and the foundings, and every thing elfe, confequently out
of their places. |

WuoeEver has to navigate in the Abyflinian fide of the
channel, will do well to pafs the ifland Dahalac on the eaft
fide, or, at leaft, not approach the outmoft ifland, Wowcan,
nearer than ten leagues ; but, keeping about twelve leagues
meridian diftance weft of Jibbel Teir, or near mid-channel
‘between that and the ifland, they will then be out of dan-
ger; being between lat. 15° 20’ and 15° 40’, which laft is the
latitude, as I obferved, of Saiel Noora, and which is the
northern ifland, we faw, three leagues off Ras Antalou, the
northmoft cape of Dahalac.

Botu at our entering into the port of Dobelew on the
a4th, and our going out of it on the 17th, we found a tide
running like a fluice, which we apprehended, in {pite of
our fails being full, would force us out of our courfe upon
the rocks. I imagine it was then at its greateft ftrength, it
now being near the equinoétial full moon. The channel be-
tween Terra Firma and the ifland being very narrow, and the
influence of the fun and moon then nearly in the equator,

had

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 36%

had occafioned this unufual violence of the tide, by forcing
a large column of water through fo narrow a {pace.

On the 17th, after we had examined our veffel, and found
fhehad received no damage, and provided water (bad asit was)
for the remainder of our voyage, we failed from Dobelew, |
but, the wind being contrary, we were obliged to come to
an anchor, at three quarters paft four o’clock, in ten fathom
water, about three leagues from that port, which was tothe
fouth-weit of us; the bearings and diftances are as follow:--~

Derghiman Kibeer, diftant ro miles, - - W.S.W.
Deleda, - - - do 7 do - - W.byN.
SaielSezan, - - - do 4 do - - SE
Perera! pat in 22d, ce oc iday rik Poor NYE,
Dahalac, - - - do. 12 do - - 6.5. W.
Dahalhalem, - - do 12 do - N. W. byN.

On the 18th, we failed, ftanding off and on, with a con-
trary wind at north-weift, and a {trong current in the fame
direction. At half paft four in the morning we were forced
to come to ananchor. There is here a very fhallow and
narrow paflage, which I founded myfelf in the boat, barely
one and a half fathom, or nine feet of water, and we were
obliged to wait the filling of the tide. This is called the
Bogaz, which fignifies, as I have before obferved, the narrow
and fhallow paflage. It is between the ifland Dahalac and
the fouth point of the ifland of Noora, about forty fathom
broad, and, on each fide, full of dangerous rocks. The
iflands then bore,

Vou. I, Z Zz Derg himan

362 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

Derghiman Seguier,, +! diftant: 3. miles, - =. S. Wi.

DerghimanvKibeer,ci 4: .do. io 5.) dois- = Se cisi :

Dahalhalem, - - - do. 4 do..- .- E.N.E..
2

Noora,: = =. vet =4 do... do.. = - N:ED.N..

_. Tue tide now entered with an unufual force, and ran
more like the Nile, or a torrent, or ftream conducted to. turn
a mill, than the fea, or the effects of a tide.” At half pak
one o’clock, there was water enough to pafs, and we feon
were hurried through it by the violence. of the current, |
driving us.in a manner truly tremendous.

“

a¢
ag

Ar-half after-three, we-pafled, between Ras. Antalou, the.
North Cape of Dahalac, and the:{mall ifland, Dahalottom,
which has fome trees upon it.. On thisifland is the tomb .
of Shekh * Abou -Gafar, mentioned by- Poncet, in his! woy-
age, who miftakes the name of the faint for that of the ifland. ~
The ftrait between the Cape and the ifland is a mile and a:
half broad. At four in the afternoon, we anchored near a
a {mall ifland-called Surat. All.between this and. Dahalac;
there is no water exceeding feven fathom, till you are near,
Dahalac Kibeer, whofe port has water for large veflels,_
but is open to every point, from fouth-weft to north-weft, ,
and has a. great fwell,.

Aut fhips coming to the weftward of Dahalac had better~
keep within the ifland Drugerut, between that and the,
main, where there is plenty of water, and room enough to

work

* Poncet’s Voyage, tranflated into Englith, printed for W. Lewis in 1709, in 12mo, page 124.

THE SOURCE OF THE-NILE. 363

work; tho’, eventhere;there are iflandsa-lead; and clear wea-
caer, as well asa Pi avenger” peat se cane be neceflary.

Oni the roth. of she i: at heen eee paft fix in
the morning, we failed,from: our anchorage ‘near Surat.
At.a quarter paft;mine; Dargeli,. an ifland with trees. upon
it, bore N. W. by W. two miles and a half :diftant; and
Drugerut three leagues anda half north and by eaft, ae
it fell calm.

Ar eleven o'clock, we pafled the ifland of .Dergai-
ham, bearing N. by Eaft, three miles diftant, and at five
in the afternoon we came to an anchor in the -harbour of
Mafuah, having been * feventeen days’on our paflage, in-
cluding the day we firft went on board, though this voy-
age, with a favourable wind, is generally made in three
days ; it often has, indeed, been failed in lefs.

Tue reader will obferve, that many of the iflands begin
‘with Dahal, and fome with Del, which laft is only an ab-.
breviation of the former, and both of them fignify sland,
in the language of Beja, otherwife called Geez, or the lan-
guage of the fhepherds. Maflowa, too, though generally
fpcledt 3 in the manner I have here expreffed it, fhould pro-
perly be written Ma/zah, which is the harbour or water of
the Shepherds. Of this nation, fo often mentioned already in
this work, as well as the many other people lefs powerful
and numerous than they that inhabit the countries be-
tween the tropics, or frontiers of Egypt and the Line, it will

LoD. be

* This muft not be attributed wholly to the weather. We {pent much time in furveying

the iflands, and in obfervation.

364 ‘TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

be neceffary now to fpeak in fome detail, although the con-
nection they all have with the trade of the Red Sea, and
with each other, will oblige me to go back to very early
times, to the invention of letters, and all the ufeful arts,
which had their beginning here, were carefully nourifhed,
and came probably to as great a perfection as they did ever
fince arrive at any other period.

2 SS ee a ee

TRAVELS

eDaR A V BL 8

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE.

BO ORY Il

ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST AGES OF THE INDIAN AND AFRICAN
TRADE—THE FIRST PEOPLING OF ABYSSINIA AND ATBARA
=—SOME CONJECTURES CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF LAN-=
GUAGE THERE,

(ee

Geran tT

Of the India trade in its earlieft ages—Settlement of Exhiopia—Troglo-
dytes---Building of the firft Cities.

HE farther back we go into the hiftory of Eaftern na-
tions, the more reafon we have to be furprifed at the
accounts of their immenfe riches and magnificence. One
who reads the hiftory of Egypt is like a traveller walking
through its ancient, ruined, and deferted towns, where all
are palaces and temples, without any trace of private or
ordinary habitation. So in the earlieft, though now mutila-

ted

' 30D TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ted, accounts which we have of them, all is power, fplen-
dour, and riches, attended by the luxury which was the
neceflary confequence, ‘without any clue or thread left us
by which we can remount, or be conduéted, to the fource
or fountain whence this variety of wealth had flowed;
without ever being able to arrive at a period, when thefe
people were poor and mean, or even in a ftate of mediocri-
ty, or upon a footing with European nations.

Tue facred fcriptures, the moft ancient, as well as the
moft credible of all hiftories, reprefent Paleftine, of which
they particularly treat, in the earlieft-ages,as not only full of
polithed, powerful, and orderly ftates, but abounding alfo
in filver and gold *, in a greater proportion than is to-be
found this day in any flate in Europe, though immenfely
rich dominions in a new world have been added to the
poffeffion of that territory, which furnifhed the greateft
quantity of gold and filver to the old. Paleftine, however,
is a poor country, left to its own refources and produce
merely. It muft have béen always a poor country, with-
out fome extraordinary connection with foreign nations.
It never contained either mines of gold or filver, and though,
at moft periods of its hiftory, it appears to have been but
thinly inhabited, it never of itfelf produced wherewithal
to fupport and maintain the few that dwelt in it.

Mr pe Monresquigu }, fpeaking of the wealth of Semi-
ramis, imagines that the great riches of the Aflyrian
ial! | empire

* Exod. xxxvill 39. + Lib, 21. cap. 6.

TEE OO RE ECOF “TEE NILE: 367

empire in her reign, arofe from this queen’s having plun»
dered: fome more ancient and richer nation, as they, in
their turn, fell afterwards a prey to a poorer, but more
warlike enemy. But however true this fact may be with
regard to Semiramis, it does not folve the general difficulty,
as ftill the fame queftion recurs, concerning the wealth of
that prior nation,.which> the Affyrians: plundered, and
from which they received their treafure. I believe the ex-
ample is are, that a large kingdom has been enriched by.
war. -' Alexander iconquered) all Afia, part of Africa, and a
confiderable portion of Europe; he plundered Semiramis’s
kingdom, and all thofe that were tributary to her ; he went
farther into the Indies than ever fhe did; though her terri-
tories bordered upon the river Indus itfelf;,yet neither Ma-~
cedon;. norany of the neighbouring provinces of Grecce,
eould ever compare with the fmall diftricts of Tyre and Si.
don for riches... |

War difperfes wealth in the very_inflant it acquires it ;
but commerce, well regulated, sEtanny and honeftly fup-
ported, carried on with ceconomy: and punctuality, is the
only thing that ever.did enrich extenfive kingdoms ; and:
one hundred hands employed at the loom will bring to a:
country more riches and abundance, than ten thoufand:
bearing {pears and fhields.. We need not go far to -pro--

duce an‘example that will confirm this.. The fubjects:

and neighbours of Semiramis had: brought {pices by land,
into Affyria. The Ifhmaelites and Midianites, the mer-
chants and carriers of gold from Ethiopia, and moreimme-.
diately from Paleftine, met in her dominions; and there:
was, for a time, the mart of the Eaft India trade. But, by
an »dfurd expedition with an army into India, in hopes to
enrich»

368 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

enrich herfelf all at once, fhe effectually ruined that com-
merce, and her kingdom fell immediately afterwards.

Wuoever reads the hiftory of the moft ancient nations, will
find the origin’ of wealth and power to have rifen in the
eaft; then to have gradually advanced weftward, {preading
itfelf at the fame time north and fouth. They will find the
riches and population of thofe nations decay in proportion
_as this trade forfakes them; which cannot but fuggeft to
a good underftanding, this truth conftantly to be found in
the difpofition of all things in this univerfe, that God makes
ufe of the fmalleft means and caufes to operate the greateft
and moft powerful effects. In his hand a pepper-corn is the
foundation of the power, glory, and riches of India; he
makes an acorn, and by it communicates power and rich-
es to nations divided from India by thoufands of leagues
of fea,

Let us purfue our confideration of Egypt. Sefoftris, be-
fore the time we have been juft {peaking of, paffed with a
fleet of large fhips from the Arabian Gulf into the Indian
Ocean; he conquered part of India, and opened to Egypt
the commerce of that country by fea. I enter not into the
credibility of the number of his fleet, as there is fcarce any .
thing credible left us about the fhipping and navigation of
the ancients, or, at leaft, that is not full of difficulties and
contradictions ; my bufinefs is with the expedition, not with
the number of the fhips. It would appear he revived, ra-
ther than firft difcovered, this way of carrying on the trade
to the Eaft Indies, which, though it was at times intermit- -
ted, (perhaps forgot by the Princes who were contending
for the fovereignty of the continent of Afia), was, neverthe-

4 Jets,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 369

. lee perpetually kept up by the trading nations themfelves,
from the ports of India and. Africa, and on the Red Sea from
Edom. —

Tue pilots from thefe ports alone, of all the world, had
a fecret confined to their own knowledge, upon which the
fuccefs of thefe voyages depended. This-was the phzxno-
mena of the trade-winds* and monfoons, which the pilots
of Sefoftris knew; and which thofe of Nearchus feem to
have taught him only in part, in his voyage afterwards,
and of which we are to fpeak in the fequel. Hiftory fays
further of Sefoftris, that the Egyptians confidered him as
their sreateft beienaek for having laid open to them the
trade both of India and Arabia, for having overturned the
dominion Of the Shepherd kings; and, laftly, for having re-
ftored to. the Egyptian individuals each their own lands,
which had been wrefted from them by the violent hands of
the Ethiopian Shepherds, during the a Chae of thefe
ge

In memory of his having happily actomplifhed thefe
events, Sefoftris is faid to have built a fhip of cedar of a
hundred and twenty yards in length, the outfide of which
he covered with plates of gold, and the infide with plates
of filver, and this he dedicated in the temple of Ifis. «1 will
not enter into the defence of the probability of his reafons
for having built:a fhip of this fize, and for fuch a purpofe,
as one of ten yards would have fufliciently anfwered. The

Wee ius cow Istw sil jac calle

* Thefe are far from being fynonymous terms, as we {hall fee afterwards.

370 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ufe it was made for, was apparently to ferve for a hiero-
glyphic, of what he had accomplithed, viz. that he had laid’
open the gold and filver trade from the mines in Ethiopia;_
and had navigated the ocean in {hips made of wood, which.
were the only ones, he thereby infinuated, that could be:
employed in that trade. The Egyptian fhips, at that time,.
were all made of the reed papyrus *, covered with fkins or
leather, a conftruction which no people could venture to:
prefent to the ocean, 3

Tuere is much.to be learned from a proper underftand-.
ing of thefe laft benefits conferred by Sefoftris upon his.
Egyptian fubjects.. When we underftand. thefe, which is-
very eafy to any that have travelled in the countries we are.
fpeaking of, (for nations and caufes have changed very lit-.
tle in thefe countries to this day), it will not be difficult to.
find afolution of this problem, What was the commerce that,
progreflively, laid the foundation of all that immenfe gran-
deur of the eaft; what polifhed them, and cloathed them.
with filk, fcarlet, and gold; and what carried the arts and.
fciences among them, to a pitch, perhaps, never yet.furpaf- -
fed, and this fome thoufands of years before the nations in
Europe had any other habitation than their native woods, or
cloathing than the {kins of beafts, wild and domeftic, or
government, but that firft, innate one, which nature had.
given to the ftrongeft?.

Ler us inquire what was the connection Sefoftris brouglhit:
about between Egypt and India; what was that commerce
Qs of.

* See the article papyrus in.the Appendix.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 37%

-ef Ethiopia and Arabia, by which he enriched Egypt, and
~what was their connection with the peninfula of India; who
were thofe kings who bore fo oppofite an office, as to be at
the fame time Shepherds ;.and who were thofe Shepherds, near,
and powerful enough to wreft the property of their lands
from four million of inhabitants.

To explain this, it will be neceflary to €nter into fome de-
‘tail, without which no perfon dipping into the ancient ‘or
‘modern hiftory of this part of Africa, can have any precife
idea of it, nor of the different nations inhabiting the penin-
fula, the fource of whofe wealth confifted entirely in the
early, but well-eftablifhed commerce between Africa and
India. What will make this fubje&t of more eafy explana-
tion is, that the ancient employment and occupations of
thefe people in the firft.ages, were ftill the fame that fubfift
at this day. The people have altered a little by colonies of
ftrangers being introduced among them, but their man-
ners and employments are the fame as they originally were.
‘What does not relate to the ancient hiftory of thefe people,
1 {hall only mention in the courfe of my travels when pafs-
ing through, or fojourning amongft them.

Provipence had created the inhabitants of the penin-—
fula of India under many difadvantages in point of climate.
The high and wholefome part of the country was covered
with barren and rugged mountains ; and, at different times
of the year, violent -rains fell in large currents down the
fides of thefe, which overflowed all the fertile land below ;
and thefe rains ‘were no fooner over, than they were fuc-
ceeded by a fcorching fun, the effect of which upon the hu-
anan body, waste render it feeble, enervated, and incapable

5 ta? of

472 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of the efforts neceffary for agriculture. In this flat coun-
try, large rivers, that fcarce had declivity enough. to run,
crept flowly along, through meadows of fat black earth,
ftagnating in many places as they went, rolling an abun-
dance of decayed vegetables, and filling the whole air with
exhalations of the moft corrupt and putrid kind. \ Even
rice, the general food of man, the fafeft and moft friendly
to the inhabitants of that country, could not grow but by ©
laying under water the places where it was fown, and there-
by rendering them, for feveral months, abfolutely improper
for man’s dwelling. Providence had done this, but, never
failing in its wifdom, had made to the natives a area
deal more than a fufficient amends.

Turir bodies were unfit for the fatigues of agriculture;,
nor was the land proper for common. cultivation. But this
country. produced fpices of great variety, efpecially a
fmall berry called Pepper, fuppofed, of all others, and with
reafon, to be the greateft friend. to the health of man. This
grew fpontancoufly, and was gathered without toil. It was,
at once, a perfect remedy for the inclemencies and difeafes
of the country, as well as the fource of its riches, from the
demand of foreigners. This fpecies of {pice is no where
known but in India, though equally ufeful in every putrid
region, where, unhappily, thefe difeafes reign. Pro-
vidence has not, as in India, placed remedies fo near them,
thus wifely providing for the welfare of mankind in gene-
rai, by the dependency it has forced one-man to have upon
another... In India, and fimilar climates, this {pice is not
ufed in fmall quentities, but in fuch, as to be nearly equal
to that of bread.

4 In

THE. SOURCE OF THE NIEE. 373

In cloathing, Providence had not been lefs kind to India.
The filk worm, with little fatigue and trouble to man, al-
moft without his interference, provided. for him a ftuff, at
once the fofteft, the moft light and brilliant, and confe-
quently the beft adapted to warm countries; and cotton,
a vegetable production, growing every where in great abun-
dance, without care, which may be confidered as almoft e-
qual to filk, in many of its qualities, and fuperior to it in
fome, afforded a-variety ftill cheaper for more general ufe.
Every tree without culture produced them fruit of the moft
excellent kind; every tree afforded them fhade, under
which, with a.very light and portable fom of cane, they
could pafs their lives delightfully in a calm and rational en-
joyment, by the gentle exercife of weaving, at once provid-
ing for the health of their bodies, the neceflities of their fa-
milies, and the riches of their country..

Bur however plentifully their {pices grew, in whatever
quantity the Indians confumed them, and however gene-
rally they wore their own manufactures, the fuperabun-
dance of both was fuch, as naturally led them to look out
for articles. againit which they might barter their fuperflui-
ties. This became neeeflary to fupply the wants of thofe
things that had been with-held from them, for wife ends,
or which,-from wantonnefs, luxury, or flender neceflity, .
they had created in their own imaginations.

Far to the weftward-of them, but part of the fame con-
tinent, connected by a long defert, and dangerous coaft,
was the peninfula of Arabia, which produced no fpices, tho’
the necefflities of its climate fubjected its inhabitants to the
fame difeafes as thofe im India. In fact, the country and.

climate

374 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

climate were exactly fimilar, and, confequently, the plenti-
fulufe of thefe warm productions was as neceflary there,
as in India, the country where they grew.

Ir is true, Arabia was not abandoned wholly to the incle-
mency of its climate, as it produced myrrh and frankin-
cenfe, which, when ufed as perfumes or fumigations, were

powerful antifeptics of their kind, but adminiftered rather —

as preventatives, than to remove the diforder when it once
prevailed. Thefe were kept up at a price, of which, at this
day, we have no conception, but which never diminifhed
from any circumftance, under which the country where
they grew, laboured. 3

‘Tue filk and cotton of India were white and colourlefs,
liable to foil, and without any variety; but Arabia produced
gum and dyes of various colours, which were highly agree-
able to the tafte of the Afiatics. We find the facred fcrip-
tures {peak of the party-coloured garment as the mark of
the greateft honaur*. Solomon, in his proverbs, too, fays,
that he decked his bed with coverings of tapeftry of Egypt f.
But Egypt had neither filk nor cotton manufa¢tory, no,
nor even wool. Solomon’s coverings, though he had
them from Egypt, were therefore an article of barter with
India.

Bau, or Balfam {, was a commodity produced in Arabia,
fold at avery high price, which it kept up till within thefe
few

* oGen. xxxvil. 3 and 2 Sam. xiii. 18." © + Prov. vii. 16,
+ Vide Appendix, where this tree-is defcribed.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE: 375

few centuries in the eaft; when the Venetians carried on:
the India trade by Alexandria, this Balfam then fold for its
weight in gold; it grows in the fame place, and,. I believe,.
nearly in the fame quantity as ever, but, for very obvious.
reafons*, it is now of little value..

Tue bafis of trade, or a. connection -between thefe two.
countries, was laid, then, from the beginning, by the hand’
of Providence. The wants and neceflities of the one found-
a fupply, or balance from the other. Heaven had placed
them not far diftant, could the pafflage be made by fea; but
violent, fteady, and unconquerable winds prefented them-
felves to make that paflage of the ocean impoflible, and we
are not to doubt, but, for a very confiderable time, this was
the reafon why the commerce of India was diffufed through:
the continent, by land only, and from this arofe the riches.
of Semiramis.

Burt, however precious the merchandife of Arabia was, it
was neither in quantity, nor quality, capable of balancing.
the imports from India. Perhaps they might have paid for
as much as was ufed in the peninfula of Arabia itfelf, but,.
beyond this there was a vaft continent called Africa, capa-.
ble of confuming many hundred fold more than Arabia;_
which lying under the fame-parallel with India, part of it
fill farther fouth, the difeafes.of the climate, and the wants
of its numerows inhabitants, were, in many parts of it, the
fame as thofe of. Arabia.and India:; befides which there was

the

* The quantity of fimilar drugs brought from the New World. -

376 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the Red Sea, and divers communications to the north-
ward.

Neiruzr their luxuries nor neceflaries were the fame
as thofe of Europe. And indeed Europe, at this time, was
probably inhabited by fhepherds, hunters, and fifhers, who
had no luxury atall, or fuchas could not be fupplied from
India; they lived in woods and marfhes, with the animals .
which made their fport, food, and cloathing. -

Tue inhabitants of Africa then, this vaft Continent, were to
be fupplied with the neceflaries, as well as the luxuries of
life, but they had neither the articles Arabia wanted, nor
thofe required in India, at leaft, fora time they thought
fo; and fo long they were not a trading people.

Ir is atradition among the Abyflinians, which they fay
they have had from time immemorial, and which is equally
received among the Jews and Chriftians, that almoft imme-
diately after the flood, Cufh, grandfon of Noah, with his
family, pafling through Atbara from the low country of
Egypt, then without inhabitants, came to the ridge of
mountains which full feparates the flat country of Atbara
from the more mountainous eae land of pu

By cafling his eye upon the map, the reader will fee a
chain of mountains, beginning at the Ifthmus. of Suez, that
runs all along like a wall, about forty miles from the Red
Sea, till it divides in lat. 13°, into two branches. The one
goes along the northern frontiers of Abyflinia, croffes the
Nile, and then proceeds weftward, through Africa towards
the Atlantic Ocean. The other branch goes fouthward, and

then

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 377

then eaft, taking the form of the Arabian Gulf; after
which, it continues fouthward all along the Indian Ocean,
in the fame manner as it did in the beginning all along,
the Red Sea, that is parallel to the coaft.

Tueir tradition fays, that, terrified with the late dread-
ful event the flood, ftill recent in their minds, and appre-
henfive of being again involved in a fimilar calamity, they
chofe for their habitation caves in the fides of thefe moun-
tains, rather than truft themfelves again on the plain. It
is more than probable, that, foon after their arrival, meet-
ing here with the tropical rains, which, for duration, ftill
exceed the days that occafioned the flood, and obferving,
that going through Atbara, that part of Nubia between the
Nile and Aftaboras, afterwards called Meroé, from a dry cli-
mate at firft, they had after fallen in with rains, and as thofe
rains increafed in proportion to their advancing fouthward,
they chofe to ftop at the firft mountains, where the country
was fertile and pleafant, rather than proceed farther at the
rifk of involving themfelves, perhaps in a land of floods,
that might prove as fatal to their pofterity as that of Noah
had been to their anceftors.

Turs is a conjecture from probability, only mentioned
for illuftration, for the motives that guided them cannot
certainly be known; but it 1s an undoubted fact, that herethe
Cufhites, with unparalleled induftry, and with inftruments
utterly unknown to us, formed for themfelves commodi-
ous, yet wonderful habitations in the heart of mountains
ef granite and marble, which remain entire in great num-
bers to this day, and promife to do fo till the confummation
of all things. This original kind of dwellings foon ex-

Aou, 1 3B tended

378 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

tended themfelves through the neighbouring mountains.
As the Cufhites grew populous, they occupied thofe that were
next them, {preading the induftry and arts which they cul-
tivated, as well to the eaftern as to the weftern ocean, but,
comtent with their firft choice, they never defcended from
their caves, nor chofe to refide at a diftance on the plain.

Ir is very fingular that St Jerome does not know where
to look for this family, or defcendents of Cuth; though
they are as plainly pointed out, and as often alluded to by
f{cripture, as any nation in the Old Teftament. They are
defcribed, moreover, by the particular circumftances of
their country, which have never varied, to be in the very
place where I now fix them, and where, ever fince, they
have remained, and ftill do to this prefent hour, in the fame
mont ains, and the fame houfes of ftone they formed for
themfelves in the beginning. And yet Bochart *, profe
fedly treating this fubject, as it were induftrioufly, involves
it in more than Egyptian darknefs. I rather refer the
reader to his work, to judge for himfelf, than, quoting it
by extracts, communicate the confulion of his ideas to my
narrative.

Tur Abyflinian tradition further fays, they built the city
of Axum fome time early in the days of Abraham. Soon:
after this, they pufhed their colony down to Atbara, where
we know from Herodotus *, they early and fuccefsfully
purfued their ftudies, from which, Jofephus fays}, they were
called Meroétes, or inhabitants. of the ifland of Meroé. |

THE.

* Boch. lib. 4, cap... + Herod. lib. 2. cap, 29, { Jofeph. antiquit. Jud:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 379

THE prodigious fragments of coloffal flatues of the dog-
flar, full to be feen at Axum, fufficiently fhew what a ma-
terial object of their attention they confidered him to be;
and Seir, which in the language of the Troglodytes, and
in that of the low country of Meroé, exaftly correfponding
to it, fignifies a dog, inftructs us in the reafon why this
province was called Sire, and the large river which bounds
it, Siris.

I APPREHEND the reafon why, without forfaking their

ancient domiciles in the mountains, they chofe this fitua-

tion for another city, Meroé, was owing to an imperfection
they had difcovered (both in Siré and in their caves below
it) to refult from their climate. They were within the
tropical rains ; and, confequently, were impeded and inter-
_ Fupted in the neceflary obfervations of the heavenly bodies,
and the progrefs of aftronomy which they fo warmly culti-
vated. They muft have feen, likewife, a neceflity of building
Meroé farther from them than perhaps they wifhed, for the
fame reafon they built Axum in the high country of Abyf-
finia in order to avoid the fly (a phenomenon of which I
fhall afterwards fpeak) which purfued them everywhere
within the limits of the rains, and which muft have given
an abfolute law in thofe firft times to the regulations of
the Cufhite fettlements. They therefore went the length
of lat. 16°, where I faw the ruins fuppofed to be thofe of
Meroé*, and caves in the mountains immediately above that
fituation, which I cannot doubt were the temporary habita-
tion of the builders of that firft feminary of learning.

ab. i isla

* At Gerri in my return through the defert,

380 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Ir is probable that, immediately upon their fuccefs at
Meroé, they loft no time in ftretching on to Thebes. We
know that it was a colony of Ethiopians, and probably from
Meroé, but whether direétly, or not, we are not certain. A
very fhort time might have pafled between the two eftablifh-
ments, for we find above Thebes, as there are-above Meroé, a
vaft number of caves,which the colony made provifionally,,.
upon its firft arrival, and which are very near the top of the: .
mountain, all inhabited to this day.

HENcE we may infer, that their ancient apprehenfions
of a deluge had not left them whilft, they faw the whole
land of Egypt could be overflowed every year without rain
falling upon it; that they did not abfolutely, as yet, truft to
the ftability of towns like thofe of Siré and Meroé, placed up-
on columns or ftones, one laid upon the other, or otherwife,
that they found their excavations in the mountains were
finifhed with lefs trouble, and more comfortable when com-
plete, than the houfes that were built. It was not long
before they affumed a greater degree of courage..

CHAR.

THESOURGHIOF THE NIEE. 383

GEA P. « H,

Saba and the South of Africa peopled—Shepherds, their particular Em=-

_ ployment and Circumftances—Abyffinia occupied by feven firanger Na-
tions—Specimens of their feveral Languages—Comettures concerning
them.

4% 7HILE thefe improvements were going on.fo profper-
oufly in the central and northern territory of the
defcendents of Cufh, their brethren to the fouth were not:
idle, they had. extended. themfelves along the mountains.
that run parallel to the Arabian Gulf; which was in all
times called Saba, or Azabo, both: which fignify South, not
becaufe Saba was fouth.of Jerufalem, but becaufe it was
on the fouth coaft of the Arabian Gulf, and, from Arabia
and Egypt, was the firft land to the fouthward which
bounded the African Continent, then richer, more import-
ant, and better known, than the reft of the world. By that ac-
quifition, they enjoyed all the perfumes and aromatics in
the eaft, myrrh, and frankincenfe, and. caffia; all which
grow fpontaneoufly in that {tripe of ground, from the Bay
of Bilur weft of Azab, to Cape Gardefan, and then fouth-
ward up in the Indian Ocean, to near the coaft of Melinda, ,

where there is cinnamon, but of an inferior kind.
a ; ARABIA.

“982 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

-

Arasia probably had not then fet itfelf up as a rival to
this fide of the Red Sea, nor had it introduced from Abyfli-
nia the myrrh and frankincenfe, as it did afterwards, for
there is no doubt that the principal mart,and growth of
thefe gums, were always near Saba. Upon the confumption
increafing, they, however, were tranfplanted thence into
Arabia, where the myrrh has not fucceeded.

Tue Troglodyte extended himfelf till farther fouth. As
an aftronomer, he was to difengage himfelf from the tro-
pical rains and cloudy fkies that hindered his correfpon-
dent obfervations with his countrymen at Meroé and Thebes.
As he advanced within the fouthern tropic, he, however,
ftill found rains, and made his houfes fuch as the fears of
a deluge had inftructed him to do. He found there folid and
high mountains, in a fine climate; but, luckier than his
countrymen to the northward, he found gold and filver in
large quantities, which determined his occupation, and made
the riches and confequence of his country. In thefe moun-
tains, called the Mountains of Sofala, large quantities of both
metals were difcovered in their pure unmixed ftate, lying
in globules without alloy, or any neceflity of preparation or
feparation.

Tue balance of trade, fo long againft the Arabian and
African continents, turned now in their favour from the
immenfe influx of thefe precious metals, found in the
mountains of Sofala, juft on the verge of the fouthern tro-
pical rains.

Gorp and filver had been fixed upon in India as proper

returns for their manufactures and produce. It is impoffi-
ble

THE SOURCE ‘OF THE NILE. 383

ble to fay whether it was from their hardnefs or beauty, or
what other reafon governed the mind of man in making
this ftandard of barter. The hiftory of the particular tran-
factions of thofe times is loft, if, indeed, there ever was.
fuch hiftory, and, therefore, all further inquiries are in
vain. The choice, it feems, was a proper one, fincentt has
continued unaltered fo many ages in. India, and has been
univerfally adopted by all nations pretty much in the pro-
portion or velue as in India, into which continent gold and
filver, from this very early period, began to flow, have con-
tinued fo to do to this day, and in all probability will do to
the end of time. What has become of that immenfe quan-
tity of bullion, how it is confumed, or where it is depofited,
and which way, if ever it returns, are doubts which I never
yet found a perfon that could fatisfactorily folve.
*

Tue Cufhite then inhabited the mountains, whilft the
northern colonies advanced from Meroé to Thebes, bufy
and intent upon the improvement of architecture, and build=
ing of towns, which they began to fubftitute for their caves;
they thus became traders, farmers, artificers of all kinds,
and even practical aftronomers, from having a meridian.
night and day free from. clouds, for fuch was that of the
Thebaid. As this was impofitble to their brethren, and fix
months continual rain confined them to thefe caves, we
eannot doubt but that their fedentary life made them ufe-.
ful in reducing the many obfervations daily made by thofe
of their countrymen who lived under a purer fy. Letters.
t00, at leaft one fort.of them, and arithmetical characters, we:
are told, were invented by this middle part of the Cufhites,,
while trade and aftronomy, the natural hiftory of the winds.
I L and:

384 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

and feafons, were what neceflarily employed the part of the

colony eftablifhed at Sofala moft to the fouthward.

Tue very nature of the Cufhites commerce, the collect-
ing of. gold, the gathering and preparing his fpices, necef-
farily fixed him perpetually at home; but his profit lay in
the difperfing of thefe {pices through the continent, other-

wife his mines, and the trade produced by the pofleffion of -

them, were to him of little avail.

A CARRIER was abfolutely neceflary to the Cufhite, and
_ Providence had provided him one in a nation which were
his neighbours. Thefe were in moft refpects different, as

they had long hair, European features, very dufky and dark

complexion, but nothing like the black-moor or negro; they
lived in plains, having moveable huts or habitations, attend-
ed their numerous cattle, and wandered from the necef-
fities and particular circumftances of their.country. Thefe
people were in the Hebrew called Put, and, in all other
languages, Shepherds; they are fo ftill, for they ftill exift;
they fubfift by the fame occupation, never had another,
and therefore cannot be miftaken; they are called Balous,
Bagla, Belowee, Berberi, Barabra, Zilla and Habab*, which
all fignify but one thing, namely that of Shepherd. From
their place of habitation, the territory has been called Bar-
baria by the Greeks and Romans, from Berber, in the origi-
al fignifying /bepherd. The authors that fpeak of the Shep-
herds feem to know little of thofe of the Thebaid, and full

lefs

* It is very probable, fome of thefe words fignified different degrees among them, as we
fhall fee in the fequel.

i, PT om

THE SOURCE OF THE NIL. 383

‘lefs of thofe of Erbicpia, -whilft they fall immediately ‘upon
‘the fhepherds of the Delta, that they may get’the fooner rid
-of them, and thruftthem into Affyria, Paleftine, and Arabia.

“They never fay what their origin was; how they came to

*be fo powerful; what was their occupation.; or, properly,
‘the land they inhabited; or what is become of them now,
though they feem inclined to think the race extin¢t.

Tur whole employment of the fhepherds had been the
-difperfing of the Arabian and African goods all over the
‘continent; ‘they had, by ‘that employment, ‘rifen to be a
‘great people: as that trade increafed, their quantity of cat-
tle increafed alfo, and confequently their numbers, and the
-extent of their territory.

Upon looking at the map, the reader will fee a chain of
‘mountains which I have defcribed, and which run in a
high ridge nearly ftraight north, along the Indian Ocean,
in a direction parallel to the coaft, where they-end at Cape
Gardefan. They then take the direction of the coait, and
run weft from Cape Gardefan to the Straits of-Babelmandcb,
inclofing the frankincenfe and myrrh country, which ex-
tends confiderably te the weft of Azab. From Babelman-
‘deb they run northward, parallel to the Red Sea, till they
end in the fandy plain at the Ifthmus of Suez, -a name pro-
bably derived from Suah, Shepherds.

Attuovcen this ftripe of land along the Indian Ocean,
-and afterwards along the Red-Sea, was neceflary to the fhep-
herds, becaufe they carried ‘their merchandife to the ports
there, and thence to Thebes and Memphis upon the Nile,
yet the principal feat of their refidence and power ‘was that

Vou. I. 3G flat

386 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

flat part of Africa between the northern tropic and the
mountains of Abyflinia. This is divided into various dif-.
tricts; it reaches from Mafuah along the fea-coaft to Suakem,,.
then turns weftward, and continues in that direction, having
the Nile on the fouth, the tropic on the north, to the deferts.
of Selima, and the confines of Libya on the weft. This.
large extent of country is called Bea. The next is that.
diftrict * in form of a fhield, as Meroé is faid to have been .

this name was given it by Cambyfes. It is between the

Nile and Aftaboras,and is now called Atbara. Between the —

river Mareb, the ancient Aftufafpes on the eaft, and Atbara.

on the weft, is the fmall plain territory of Derkin, another

diftritt of the fhepherds. All that range of mountains,
running eaft and weit, inclofing Derkin and Atbara on the

fouth, and which begins the mountainous country of Abyf-

finia, is inhabited by the negro woolly-headed Cufhite,, or
Shangalla, living as formerly in caves, who, from having:

been the moft cultivated and inftructed people in the

world, have, by a ftrange reverfe of fortune, relapfed into.
brutal ignorance, and are hunted by their neighbours.

like wild beafts in thofe forefts, where they ufed to reign in.

the utmoft luxury, liberty, and {fplendour. But the nobleft,,

and moft warlike of all the fhepherds, were thofe that inhabi-

ted the mountains of the Habab, a confiderable ridge reach-.
ing from the-neighbourhood of Mafuah to Suakem, and who,

{till dwell there..

In the ancientlanguage of this country, So, or Suah, fignified.

fhepherd, or fhepherds; though we do notknow any particu-

lar rank or degrees among them, yet we may fuppofe thefe
called fimplv /Zepherds were the common fort that attended.
the.

rT RR To ene

Diod: Sic. lib..1. cap.

4
a
i

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 387

~ the flocks, Another denomination, part of them bore, was

fycfos, founded by us Agfos, which fignifies armed _fbepherds,
or fuch as wore harnefs, which may be fuppofed the fol-
diers, or armed force of that nation. The third we fee men-
tioned is Ag-ag, which is thought to be the nobles or
chiefs of thofe armed fhepherds, whence came their title
King of Kings *. The plural of this is Agagi, or, as it is writ-.
ten in the Ethiopic, Agaazi. pats

Tus term has very much puzzled both Scaliger and Lu-
dolf; for, finding in the Abyffinian books that they are call~
ed Agaazi, they torment themfelves about finding the ety-
mology of that word. They imagine them to be Arabs
from near the Red Sea, and Mr Ludolf+ thinks the term fig-
nifies banifbed men. Scaliger, too, has various guefles about

them nearly to the fame import. All this, however, is with-

out foundation ; the people affert themfelves at this day to
be Agaazi, that is, a race of Shepherds inhabiting the moun-
tains of the Habab, and have by degrees extended them-
felves through the whole province of Tigré, whofe capital
is called Axum, from Ag and Suah, the metropolis, or princi-
pal city of the fhepherds that wore arms.

NoTHING was more oppofite than the manners and life
of the Cufhite, and his carrier the fhepherd. The firft,
though he had forfaken his caves, and now lived in cities
which he had built, was neceflarily confined at home by his
commerce, amafling gold, arranging the invoices of his

3a {pices,

* This was the name of the king of Amalck; he was an Arab fhepherd, flain by Sax
mucl, 1 Sam. xv. 33.

+ Ludolf lib. 1 cap. 4.

388° TRAVELS‘TO DISCOVER:

fpices, hunting in the feafon to provide himfelf ‘with ivory;.
and food throughout: the. winter. His mountains, and the -
cities he built afterwards, were fituated upon aloomy, black:
earth, fo that as foon as. the tropical rains: began to. fall, a:
wonderful phenomenon deprived him of his cattle. Large -
fwarms of flies appeared wherever that loomy earth was, .
which made:him abfolutely dependent in this refpect upon:
the fhepherd, but this affected the fhepherd-alfo. .

Tuis infectt:is called: Zim); it Tras not been défcribed by
any naturalift. It.is in-fize very little larger than a bee, of:
a thicker proportion,.and his wings, which.are broader than:
thofe of a bee, placed feparate like thofe of a fly; they are-
of pure> gauze, without colour. or-fpot-upon them; the-
head is large, the upper jaw or lip:is {harp, and has.at the.
end of it a ftrong-pointed hair of about a quarter of: ane
inch long; the lower jaw: has; two -of ‘thefe pointed hairs, .
and this pencil‘of hairs, when. joined together, makes a re--
iiftence to the finger nearly equal to that of a ftrong hog’s :
briftle. Its legs are ferrated in the -infide,; and the whole.
covered with brown hair or down, As foon.as this plague.
appears, and their buzzing is heard, all the cattle. for-..
fake their food, and run .wildly about the-plain, till they °
die, worn out with fatigue, fright, and hunger. No remedy.
remains, but to leave the black.earth, and haften, down to:
the fands of Atbara, and there, they remain while the rains .
laft, this cruel enemy never daring to purfue them farther. »

Wuart enables-the fhepherd. to: perform the. long and?
toilfome-journies acrofs Africa is the camel, emphatically:
called by the Arabs, the /Lip of the defert. We feems to have.
been created for this very. trade; endued:. with parts and.

qualities

THE SOUR CE:OF THE NILE: 389:

qualities adapted ‘to the office lhe is employed to difcharge.:.
The drieft thiftle, and the bareft thorn, is. all the food this.
ufeful -quadruped requires, and even thefe, to fave time,.
he eats while advancing on his journey, without ftopping,
or occafioning a moment of. delay. As it is his lotito crofs.
immenfe -deferts,. where no water is found, and’countries
not even moiftened by the dew-of heaven, he is endued with -

the power at one watering-place to.lay in a-ftore, with —
which he fupplies himfelf fer: thirty days to come... To»

contain this enormeus quantity of fluid, Nature has form-.
ed large cifterns within him, from: which, once filled, he.
draws at pleafure the quantity he wants,.and pours it into
his ftomach with the fame efleCtas if he then drew. it from»
a {pring, and ‘with this he travels, patiently and vigorouily,
all day long, carrying a prodigious load upon him, through
countries infected with poifonous winds, and. gléwing with .
parching and never-cooling fands. ‘Though his fize is im-
menfe, as is-his ftrengthyand his bedy covered with a thick ©
fkin, defended with ftrong hair, yet ftill.he is not capable.

to fuftain the -violent punctures the fly makes with -his.
pointed probofcis.. He mutt lofe no time in removing to the -
fands of Atbara; for, when once attacked by this fly, his.
body, head, and legs break cut into large bofles, which fwell,
break, and putrify, to the certain deftruction of the creature. .

Even: the -elephant. and. rhmoceros, .who, by-reafon of -.
their-enormous bulk,.and the vaft quantity of food. and.’
water they daily need, cannot fhift to defert and dry places -
as the feafon may require, are obliged to roll themfelves in :
mad aud mire, which, when dry, coats them over like ar--
riour, and enables them to fland their ground agamft this.
winged alfafin; yet Il have found fome of thefe rubercules:

Bes upon:

399 =O TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

upon almoft every elephant and rhinoceros that I have feen,
and attribute them to this caufe. |

Aut the inhabitants of the fea-coaft of Melinda, down to
Cape Gardefan, to Saba, and the fouth coaft of the Red Sea,
are obliged to put themfelves in motion, and remove to the
next fand in the beginning of the rainy feafon, to prevent all
theirftockof cattle from beingdeftroyed. Thisis notapartiale- ‘
migration; the inhabitants of all the countries from the
mountains of Abyflinia northward, to the confluence of the
Nile and Aftaboras, are once a-year obliged to change their a-
bode, and feek protection inthe fands of Beja; nor is there any
alternative, or means of avoiding this, though a hoftile band
was in their way, capable of {poiling them of half their
fubftance ; and this is now actually the cafe, as we fhall fee
when we come to {peak of Sennaar, — ee

Or all thofe that have written upon thefe countries, the
prophet Ifaiah alone has given an account of this animal,
and the manner of its operation. Ifa. vu. ch. 18. and rg. ver.
* And it fhall come to pafs, in that day, that the Lord fhall
* hifs for the fly that is in the uttermoft part of the rivers of
“ Egypt,’--- And they fhall come, and fhall reft all of them
“ in the defolate vallies *, and in the holes of the rocks, and
* upon all thorns, and upon all bufhes,”

Tue mountains that I have already fpoken of, as running
through the country of the Shepherds, divide the feafons

by

* That is, they thall cut off from the cattle their ufual retreat to the defert, by taking poffeffion
of thofe places, and meeting them there where ordinarily they never come, and which therefore
tre the refuge of the cattle. ‘

THESOURCE OF THE NILE, 391

by a hne drawn along their fummit, fo exactly, that, while
the eaftern fide, towards the Red Sea, is deluged with rain
for the fix months that conftitute our winter in Europe, the
weftern fide towards Atbara enjoys a perpetual fun, and ac-
tive vegetation. Again, the fix months, when it is our /vm-
mer in Europe, Atbara,or the weftern fide of thefe mountains,
is conftantly covered with clouds and rain, while, for the
fame time, the fhepherd on the eaftern fide, towards the
Red Sea, feeds his flocks in the moft exuberant foliage and
luxuriant verdure, enjoying the fair weather, free from the
fly or any other moleftation. Thefe great advantages have
very naturally occafioned thefe countries of Atbara and
Beja to be the principal refidence of the fhepherd and his
cattle, and have entailed upon him the neceflity of a per-
petual change of places. Yet fo little is this inconvenience,
fo fhort the peregrination, that, from the rain on the weft

fide, a man, in the {pace of four hours, will change to the

oppofite feafon, and find himfelf in fun-fhine to the eaft-
ward, +

Wuen Carthage was built, the carriage of this commer-
cial city fellinto the hands of Lehabim, or Lubim, the Li-
byan peafants, and became a great acceflion to the trade,
power, and number of the fhepherds. In countries to which
there was no accefs by fhipping, the end of navigation was
nearly anfwered by the immenfe increafe of camels; and
this trade, we find, was carried on in the very earlieft ages

on the Arabian fide, by the Ifhmaelite merchants trading to:

Paleftine and Syria, from the fouth end of the peninfula,
with camels. .This we learn particularly from Genefis, they
brought myrrh and fpices, or pepper, and fold them for

4 filver ;

\

492 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

filver; they had alfo balm, or balfam, but this it feems, in
thofe days, they brought from Gilead. |

We are forry, in reading this curious anecdote preferved
to us in fcripture, to find, in thofe early ages of the India
trade, that another fpecies of commerce was clofely con-
nected with it, which-modern philanthropy has branded as
the difgrace of-human nature. It is plain, from the paflage, '
the commerce of felling men was then-univerfally-eftablith-
-ed. Jofeph* is bought as readily, and.fold as currently im-
mediately after, as any ox or camel could be at this day.
Three nations, Javan, Tubal,and Mefhech+, are mentioned
as having their.principal trade at Tyre in the felling of men;
and, as late as St John’s time, this is mentioned as a prin-
cipal part of the trade of Babylon; notwithftanding which,
no prohibition from God, er cenfure from the prophets,
hhave ever ftigmatized iteither as irreligious or immoral ;
on the contrary, it is always fpoken of.as favourably as any
fpecies of commerce whatever. For this, and ‘many other
reafons which I could mention, I cannot think, that pur-
chafing flaves is, in itfelf, either cruel or unnatural. Te
purchafe any living creature to abufe it afterwards, is .cer-
tainly both bafe and criminal; and the crime becomes ftill
of a deeper dye, when our fellow-creatures come to be the
fufferers. But, although this is an abufe which accidentally
follow the trade, itis no neceflary part of the trade itfelf;
and, it 1s againft this abufe the wifdom of the legiflature
fhouid be-directed, not againft the trade itfelf. .

On

* Gen. chap. xxxvii. ver. 25. 28. 3 Ezek. chap. xxvii. ver. 13.

t Rev. chap. xvili.ver. 13.

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THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 403

On the eaftern fide of the peninfula of Africa, many thou-
fand flaves are fold to Afia, perfetly in the fame manner
as thofe on the weft fide are fent to the Weft Indies; but no
one, that ever I heard, has as yet opened his mouth againft
the fale of Africans to the Eaft Indies ; and yet there is an
aggravation in this laft fale of flaves that fhould touch us
much more than the other, where no fuch additional grie-
vance can be pretended. The flaves fold into Afia are moft
of them Chriftians; they are fold to Mahometans, and, with
their liberty, they are certainly deprived of their religion like-
wife. But the treatment of the Afiatics being much
more humane than what the Africans, fold to the Weft
Indies, meet with, no clamour has yet been raifed againft
this commerce in Afia, becaufe its only bad confequence is
apoftacy; a proof to me that religion has no part in the pre-
fent difpute, or, as I have faid, it is the abufe that accident-.
ally follows the purchafing of flaves, not the trade itfelf, that
fhould be confidered as the grievance..

Ir is plain from all hiftory, that two abominable prac:
tices, the one the eating of men, the other of facrificing
them to the devil, prevailed all over Africa. The India

trade, as we have feen in very early ages, firft eftablifhed
_ the buying and felling of flaves; fince that time, the eating
of men, or facrificing them, has fo greatly decreafed on the
eaftern fide of the peninfula, that now we fcarcely hear of
an inftance of either of thefe that can be properly vouched.
On the weftern part, towards the Atlantic Ocean, where the
fale of flaves began a confiderable time later, after the
difcovery of America and the Weft Indies, both of thefe hor-
rid practices are,as it were, general, though, Iam. told, lefs.
fo to the northward fince that event.

Vou. I. sD ay THERE

394 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER |

Tuere is ftill alive a man of the name of Matthews, who-
was prefent at one of thofe bloody banquets on the weft
of Africa, to the northward of Senega. It is probable the con-
tinuation of the flave-trade would have abolifhed thefe, in
time, on the weft fide alfo. Many other reafons could: be
alledged, did my plan permit it. But I fhall content myfelf
at prefent, with faying, that I very much fear that a relaxa-
tion and effeminacy of manners, rather than genuine ten-
dernefs of heart, has been the caufe of this-violent paroxy{m
of philanthropy, and of fome other meafures adopted of late
to the difcouragementof difcipline, which I do not doubt will
foon be felt to contribute their mire to the decay both of trade
and eves that pes spiseionampnem follow. ,

‘Tue Ethiopian aedplictal at firft cntied on the dite on
their own fide of the Red'Sea; they carried their India com-
modities to Thebes, likewife to the different black nations to
the fouth-weft ; in return, they brought back gold, probably
at a cheaper rate, becaufe Spaeth by a thorter aise than
by that from Ophir. : ¢€

-Tueses became exceedingly rich and proud, though, by
the moft extenfive area that ever was afligned to it, it never
could be either large or populous. Thebes is not mention-
ed in fcripture by that name; it was deftroyed before the
days of Mofes by Salatis prince of the Agaazi, or Ethiopian
fhepherds ; at this day it has affumed a name very like the’
ancient one. The firft fignification of its name, Medinet
Tabu, I thought was the Town of our Father. This, hiftory
fays, was given it by Sefoftris in honour of his father; in
the ancient language, its name was’ dmmon No. The next
that maa itfelf was Theba, which- was the Hebrew

name
a

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 395

~ wname for the Ark when Noah was ordered to build it—
Thou fhalt “ make thee an Ark (Theba) of gopher-wood*.”

Tue figure of the temples in Thebes do not feem to be
far removed from the idea given us of the Ark. The third
conjecture is, that being the firft city built and fupported
cq pillars, and, on different and feparate pieces of ftone, it
got its name from the architects firft expreflion of appro-
bation or furprife, Tabu, that it ftood infulated and alone,

and this feems to me to be the moft conformable both to
the Hebrew ~--4 Lazepic.

Tue fhepherds, for the moft part, friends and allies of the
Egyptians, or Cufhite, at times were enemies tothem. We
need not, at this time of day, feek the caufe; there are many
very apparent, from oppofite manners, and, above all, the
difference in the dietetique regimen. The Egyptians wor-
fhipped the cow, the Shepherds killed and ate her. The
Shepherds were Sabeans, worfhipping the hoft of heaven—
the fun, moon, and ftars. Immediately upon the building
of Thebes and the perfection of fculpture, idolatry and the
groffeft materialifm greatly corrupted the more pure and
{peculative religion of the Sabeans. Soon after the build-
ing of Thebes, we fee that Rachel, Abraham’s wife, had
idols + ; we need feek no other probable caufe of the devaf-
tation that followed, than difference of religion.

THEBES was deftroyed by Salatis, who overturned the
firft Dynafty of Cufhite, or Egyptian kings, begun by Mes
nes, in what is called the fecond age of the world, and

3D2 founded

* Gen. vi, 14. + Gen, xxxy. 4.

396 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

founded the firft Dynafty of the Shepherds, who behaved
very cruelly, and wrefted the lands from their firft owners ;
and it was this Dynafty that Sefoftris deftroyed, after calling
Thebes by his father’s name, Ammon No, making thofe de-
corations that we have feen of the harp in the fepulchres on
the weft, and building Diofpolis on the oppofite fide of the
river. The fecond conqueft of Egypt by the Shepherds
was that under Sabaco, by whom it has been imagiaed
Thebes was deftroyed, in the reign of Hezekiah king of
Judah, who is faid to have made peace with So * king of
Egypt, as the tranflator has called 2—-» —+4481mg So Tus
the name of the king, whereas it only denoted his quality
of fhepherd. |

From this it is plain, all that the {cripture mentions a-
bout Ammon No, applies to Diofpolis on the other fide of
the river. Ammon No and Diofpolis, though they were on
different fides of the river, were confidered. as one city,
thro’ which the Nile flowed, dividing it into two-parts.. This
is plain from profane hiftory, as well as from the prophet
Nahum +}, who defcribes it very exactly, if in place of the
word fea was fubftituted river, as it ought to be..

THERE was a third invafion of the Shepherds after the

building of Memphis, where a t king of Egypt § is faid to

have inclofed two hundred and forty thoufand of them in,
a city called baris; they furrendered upon capitulation,
amd were banifhed the country into the land of Canaan,
That two hundred and forty thoufand men fhould be

: inclofed,

ESSE

* 2 Kings, xvii. 4. + Nahum, chap. iii. 8. = { Mifphragmuthofis, § Manethon;,
Apud. Jofephum Apion.. lib.. 1. p. 460.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 397

inclofed in one city, fo as to bear a fiege, feems to me ex-
tremely improbable; but: be it fo, all that it can mean
is, that Memphis, built in Lower Egypt near the Delta, had
war with the Shepherds of the Iftthmus of Suez, or the dif-
tricts near them, as thofe of Thebes had before with the
Shepherds of the Thebaid. But, however much has been
written upon}jthe fubject, the total expulfion of the Shep-
herds at any one time by any. King of Egypt, or at any one
place, muft be fabulous, as they have remained in their an-
cient feats, and do remain to this day ; perhaps in not fo
great a number as when the India trade was carried on
by the Arabian Gulf,-yet ftill in greater numbers than any
other nation of the Continent.

Tue mountains which the Agaazi inhabit, are called Hadad,
from which it comes, that they themfelves have got that
name. Habab, in their language, and in Arabic like-
wife, fignifies a /erpent, and this I fuppofe explains that hit ~
torical fable in the book of Axum, which fays, a ferpent
conquered the province of Tigré, and reigned there.

Ir may be afked, Is there no other people that inhabit
Abyfiinia, but thefe two nations, the Cufhites and the Shep-
herds? Are there no other nations, whiter or fairer than
them, living to the fouthward of the Agaazi? Whence’did
thefe come? At what time, and by what name are they cal-
led? To this I anfwer, That there are various nations which.
agree with this defcription, who have each a particular
name, and who are all known by that of Hade/, in Latin
Convene, fignifying a number of diftinct people meeting acci-
dentally in one place. The word has been greatly mifun-
derftood, and mifapplied, both by Scaliger and Ludolf, and

3 a num=

398 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

a number of others; but nothing is more confonant to the
hiftory of the.country than the tranflation I have given it,
nor will the word itfelf bear any other.

Tue Chronicle of Axum, the moft ancient repofitory of
the antiquities of that country, a book efteemed, I fhall not
fay how properly, as the firft in authority after the holy
{criptures, fays, that between the creation of the world and
the birth of our Saviour there were 5500 years *; that A-
byffinia had never been inhabited till 1808 years before
Chrift*; and 200 years after that, which was in the 1600, it
was laid wafte by a flood, the face of the country much
changed and deformed, fo that it was denominated at that
time Ouré Midre, or, the country laid wafte, or, as it is called
in fcripture itfelf, a land which the waters or floods had
fpoiled +; that about the 1400 year before Chrift it was
taken poffeflion of by a variety. of people {peaking different
languages, who, as they were in friendfhip with the Agaazi,
or Shepherds, poflefling the high country of Tigré, eame
and fat down befide them ina peaceable manner, each occu-
pying the lands that were before him. This fettlement is
what the Chronicle of Axum calls dngaba, the entry and e-
ftablifhment of thefe nations, which finithed the peopling
of Bbyiinia.

TrapiTion further fays, that they came from Paleftine.
All this feems to me to wear the face of truth. Some time
after the year 1500, we know there happened a flood which

occafioned

* Eight years lefs than the Greeks and other followers of the Septuagint.
T Haiah, chap. xviii. ver. 2.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. "399

occafioned great devaftation. Paufanius fays, that this flood
happened in Ethiopia in the reign of Cecrops; and, about
the 1490 before Chrift, the Ifraelites entered the land of pro-
mife, under-Caleb and Jofhua. We are not to wonder at
the great impreffion that invafion made upon the minds of
- the inhabitants of Paleftine. We fee by the hiftory of the
harlot, that the different nations had been long informed
by Oe eer and credited among themfelves, that
they were to be extirpated before the face of the Ifraelites,
who for fome time had been hovering about their frontiers.
But now when Jofhua had pafled the Jordan, after having mi-
raculoufly dried up the river * before his army had inva-
ded Canaan, and had taken and deftroyed Jericho, a panic
{eized the whole people of Syria and Paleftine. |

_ Turse petty ftates, many in number, and who had all
different languages, feeing a conqueror with an immenfe
army already in poffeflion of part of their country, and
who did not conduct himfelf according to the laws of o-
ther conquerors, but put the vanquifhed under faws and
harrows of iron, and deftroyed the men, women, and child- -
ren, and fometimes even the cattle, by the fword, no long-
er could think of waiting the arrival of fuch an enemy,
but fought for fafety by fpeedy flight or emi gration, The
Shepherds in Abyflinia and Atbara were the moft natural re-
fuge thefe fugitives could feek ; commerce mutt have long
made them acquainted with eae others manners, and they

v.i1. 3d : on muft

* Joshua, ii, 16,

40 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

‘mutt have been already entitled to the rights of hofpitality
by having often paffed through each other’s country.

Procopius* mentions that two pillars were ftandin g in his
time on the coaft of Mauritania, oppofite to Gibraltar, upon
which were infcriptions in the Pheenician tongue: “ We are
“ Canaanites, flying from the face of Jofhua, the fon of Nun,
“the robber?” A character they naturally gave him from
the ferocity and violence of his manners. Now, if what
thefe infcriptions contain is true, it is much more credible,
that the different nations, emigrating at that time, fhould
feek their fafety near hand among their friends, rather than
go to an immenfe diftance to Mauritania, to rifk a precari-
ous reception among ftrangers, and perhaps that country
not yet inhabited.

Urown viewing the feveral countries in which thefe
nations have their fettlements, it feems evident they were
made by mutual confent, and in peace; they are not fepa-
rated from each other by chains of mountains, or large
and rapid rivers, but generally by {mall brooks, dry the
greateft part of the year; by hillocks, or fmall mounds of
earth, or imaginary lines traced to the top of fome moun-
tain at a diftance; thefe boundaries have never been dit
puted or altered, but remain upon the old tradition to this
day. Thefe have all different languages, as we fee from
fcripture all the petty ftates of Paleftine had, but they have
-no letters, or written character, but the Geez, the character .
of

ba

* Procop. de bello vind. lib. 2. cap. 10.
* A Moorith author, Ibn el Raquique, fays, this infcription was on a ftone on a mountain at
Carthage. Marmol. lib. 1. cap. 25.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 401

of the Cufhite fhepherd by whom they were firft invented
and ufed, as we fhall fee hereafter. I may add in further
proof of their origin, that the curfe* of Canaan feems to
have followed them, they have obtained no principality, but
ferved the kings of the Agaazi or Shepherds, have been
hewers of wood and drawers of water, and fo they {till
continue.

Tue firft and moft confiderable of thefe nations fettled in

a province called Ambara; it was, at firft coming, as little

known as the others; but, upon a revolution in the country,

the king fled to that province, and there the court ftaid

many years, fo that the Geez, or language of the Shepherds,
. was dropt, and retained only in writing, and as a dead lan-

guage; the facred fcriptures being in that language only,

faved the Geez from going totally into difufe. The fecond:
were the Agows of Damot, one of the fouthern provinces of
Abyfiinia, where they are fettled immediately upon the

fources of the Nile. The third are the Agows of Lafta, or

Tcheratz Agow, from Tchera, their principal habitation ;

theirs too is a feparate language ; they are Troglodytes that

live in caverns, and feem to pay nearly the fame worfhip to

the Siris, or Tacazze, that thofe of Damot pay to the Nile.

I raxe the old names of thefe two laft-mentioned na-
tions, to be funk in the circumftances of this their new fet-
tlement, and to be. a compound of two words Ag-oha, the
Shepherds of the River, and I alfo imagine, that the idolatry

Vox. I. Bae . they

- * Gen. ix, 25, 26, and 27. verfes,

4oz TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

they introduced in the worfhip of. the Nile, is a further-
proof that they came from Canaan, where they imbibed’
‘materialifm in place of the pure Sabean worfhip of the:
Shepherds, then the only religion-of this part of Africa.

Tue fourth is a nation bordering upon the fouthern:
banks of the Nile near Damot.. It calls itfelf Gafat, which:
fignifies oppreffed. by violence,.torn, expelled; or chaced a-.
way by force. If we were to-follow the idea: arifing mere-
ly from this name, we might: be led to imagine, that thefe-
were part of the tribes torn: from Solomon’s fon:and fuccef- -
for, Rehoboam. This, however, we cannot do confiftent.
with the faith. to be kept by a hiftorian with his reader.
The evidence of the people themfelves, and the tradition of-
the country, deny they ever were Jews, or ever concerned.
with that colony, brought with Menilek and the queen of.
Saba, which. eftablifhed the Jewifh hierarchy.. They declare, .
that they are now Pagans, and ever were fo; that they are:
partakers with their neighbours the Agows in the worfhip:
of the river Nile, the extent.or particulars of which I can--
not pretend. to explain.—The fifth is a tribe, which, if we:
were to pay any attention to fimilarity of names, we fhould’
be apt to imagine we had found here in Africa a part:
of that great Gaulifh nation fo widely extended in: Europe:
and Afia. A comparifon of their languages, with what we:
know exifts of the former, cannot but. be very curious.----
Thefe are the Galla, the moft confiderable of. thefe nations, ,
fpecimens of whofe language I have cited. This word, in.
their own language, fignifies Shepberd*; they fay that for--

} merly’

* Thefe people hikewife call themfelves Agaazt, or Agagi, they-have over-run the kingdom of |
Congo fouth of the Line, and-on the Atlantic Ocean, as the Galla have done that part of the king--
dom of Adel and Abyffinia, on the Eaftern,.or Indian Ocean... Purch. lib. ii. chap. 4. Sect. 88

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 403

merly they lived on the borders of the fouthern rains, with-
in the fouthern tropic; and that, like thefe in Atbara, they
were carriers between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, and
fupplied the interior part of the peninfula with Indian com-
modities.

Tue hiftory of this trade is unknown; it muft have been
ittle lefs ancient, and nearly as extenfive, as the trade to
Egypt and Arabia. It probably fuffered diminution, when
the mines of Sofala were given up, foon after the difcovery
of the new world. The Portuguefe found it ftill flourifhing,
when they made their firft conquefts upon that coaft; and
they carry it on ftill in an obfcure manner, but in the fame
tract to their fettlements near Cape Negro on the weftern
ocean. From thefe fettlements would be the proper place
to begin to explore the interior parts of the peninfula, on
‘both fides of the fouthern tropic, as protection and afliftance
could probably be got through the whole courfe of it, and
very little {kill in language would be neceflary.

Wen no employment was found for this multitude of
‘men and cattle, they left their homes, and proceeding north-
‘ward, they found themfelves involved near the Line, in
rainy, cold, and cloudy weather, where they fcarcely ever
faw the fun. Impatient of fuch a climate, they advanced
full farther, tiil about the year 1537, they appeared in great |
numbers in the province of Bali, abandoning the care of
camels for the breeding of horfes. At prefent they are all
cavalry. I avoid to fay more of them in this place, as I fhall
be obliged to make frequent mention of them in the courfe
of my narrative.

3#£2 THE

404, TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue Falafha, too, are a people of Abyflinia, having a par
ticular language of their own; a fpecimen of which I have
alfo publifhed, as the hiftory of the people feems to be curi-
ous. Ido not, however, mean to. fay of them, more than
of the Galla, that this was any part of thofe nations who
fled from Paleftine on the imvafion of Jofhua. For they are
now, and ever were, Jews, and have traditions of their own:
as to their origin, and what reduced them to the prefent
{tate of feparation, as we fhall fee hereafter, when I come to.
{peak of the tranflation of the holy fcripture.__

In order to: gratify fuch as are curious in the ftudy and’
hiftory of language, I, with great pains and difficulty, got
the whole book of the Canticles tranflated into.each of thefe
languages, by priefts efteemed the moft verfant in the lan-
guage of each nation.. As this barbarous polyglot is of too
large a fize to print, I have contented myfelf with copying
fix verfes of. the firft chapter in each language; but the
whole book, is at the fervice of any perfon. of learning that
will beftow his time in ftudying it, and, for this purpofe,.
Left it in the Britifh Mufeum, under the direction of Sir:
Jofeph: Banks, and the Bifhop of Carlifle..

THESE Convene, as we have obferved, were called Habe/b,.

a number of diftinct nations meeting in one place.. Scrip-
ture has given them.a name; which, though it has been ill:
tranflated, is precifely Convene, bothin the Ethiopic and He-.
brew. Our-Englith tranflation calls them the mingled people*,..
whereas it-fhould be the /cparate nations, who, though met and.
fettled together, did not mingle, which. is ftriGily Convene.
: The

“ Seren. chap. xuil. ver. 23.—id. xxv. 24.—LEzek. chap. xxx. ver. 5:

THEI SOURCE OF THE NIEE. os.

The mbhabitants’ then who pofleffed Abyflinia, from its
fouthern boundary to the tropic of Cancer, or frontiers of
Egypt, were the Cufhites, or polifhed’ people, living ‘in
towns, firft Troglodytes, having their habitations in caves.
The next were the Shepherds; after thefe were the na-
tions who, as we apprehend, came from Paleftine---Amhara,
Agow of Damot, Agow of Tchera, and Gafat..

INTERPRETERS, much le{s acquainted with the hittorical
“circumftances of thefe countries than the prophets, have,
either from ignorance or inattention, occafioned an obfcu-
rity which otherwife did not arife from the text. All thefe
people are alluded to in fcripture by defcriptions that can-
not be miftaken. If they have occafioned doubts or dif-
ficulties, they are all to be laid at the door of the tranflators,
chiefly the Septuagint. When Mofes returned with his wife
Zipporah, daughter of the fovereign of the Shepherds of
Midian, carriers of the India trade from Saba into Paleftine,
and eftablifhed.near their principal mart Edom, in Idumea
or Arabia, Aaron,and Miriam his fifter, quarrelled with Mo-
fes, becaufe he had married one who was, as the tranflator
fays, an Ethiopian*. ‘There is no fenfe in-this caufe ; Mo-
fes was a fugitive when he married Zipporah; fhe was a
noble-woman, daughter of the prieft of Midian, head of a
people. She lrkewife; as it would feem, was a Jewefs +, and
more attentive, at that time, to the prefervation of the pre-
cepts of.the law, than Mofes was himfelf; no exception,
then, could lie againft Zipporah, as fhe was furely, in every
view, Mofes’s fuperior.. But if the tranflator had rendered:
ip,

* Numb. char. xii. ver. 1. + Exod. chap. iv. ver. 25.

406 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

it, that Aaron and Miriam had quarrelled with Mofes, be-
caufe he had married a zegro, or black-moor, the reproach was
evident; whatever intrinfic merit.-Zipporah might have been
found to have pofleffed afterwards, fhe muft have appear-
ed before the people, at firft fight, as a /frange woman, or
Gentile, whom it was prohibited tomarry. Befides, the in-
nate deformity of the complexion, negroes were, at all times,
rather coveted for companions of men of luxury or pleafure,
than fought after for wives of fober legiflators, and gover-
mors of a people.

Tue next inftance I fhall give is, Zerah of Gerar*, who
came out to fight Afa king of Ifrael with an army of a

_ million of men, and three hundred chariots, whilft both

the quarrel and the decifion are reprefented as immedi-

ate.

Gerar was a {mall diftric, producing only the Acacia or
gum-arabic trees, from which it had its name; it had no
water but what came from a few wells, part of which had
been dug by Abraham +, after much {ftrife with the people

of the country, who fought to deprive him of them, as of.

a treafure.

AsrauaAm and his brother Lot returning from Egypt,
thov gh poor fhepherds, could not fubfift there for want of
food,and water, and they feparated accordingly, by confentf.

Now

® > Chron. chap. xiv. ‘ver. 9. + Gen chap. 24. ver. 30.
} Gen. chap. 13. ver. 6, and 9. ;

“

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 407
Now it muft. be confeffed, as it is not pretended there:
was any miracle here, that there is not a more un-
likely tale in all Herodotus, than this muft be allowed to:
be upon the footing of the tranflation. The tranflator calls
Zerah an Ethiopian, which fhould either mean he dwelt in:
Arabia, as he really did, and this gave him_no advantage,.
or elfe that he was a ftranger, who originally came from:
the country above Egypt; and, either way, it would have
been impoffible, during his whole life-time, to have collect-.
ed a million of men, one of the greateft.armies that ever’
ftood upon the face of the earth, nor could he have. fed.
them though they had ate the whole trees that grew in his.
country, nor could he have given every hundredth man.
one drink of water in a.day from all the wells he had in:
his country.. |

Herz, then, is an obvious triumph for infidelity, becaufe,.
as I have faid, no fupernatural means are pretended.. But.
had it been tranflated, that Zerah was a black-moor, a Cufbite-
negro, and prince of the Cufhites, that were carriers in the:
iithmus, an Ethiopian fhepherd, then the wonder ceafed..
Twenty camels, employed to carry couriers. upon them,,
might have procured that. number of men to meetin a.
fhort: fpace of time, and, as Zerah was the aggreffor, he:
had time to choofe when he fhould attack his. enemy ; every.
one of thefe fhepherds carrying with.them their provifion:
of flour and water, as is their invariable cuftom, might have.
fought with Afaat Gerar, without eating a loat.of Zerah’s.
Dread, or drinking a pint of his water..

Tue next paflage I’fhall mention is the following: “ The:
“labour of Egypt, and merchandife of Ethiopia, and of the-
2. i “ Sabeans,,

408 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

“ Sabeans, men of ftature, fhall come over unto thee, and

“ they fhall be thine*.” Here the feveral nations are diftin-
ly and feparately mentioned in their places, but the whole

meaning of the paflage would have been loft, had not the

fituation of thefe nations been perfeétly known; or, had
not the Sabeans been mentioned feparately, for both the
Sabeans and the Cufhite were certainly Ethiopians. Now,,
the meaning of the verfe is, that the fruit of the agricul-
ture of Egypt, which is wheat, the commodities of the ne-
gro, gold, filver, ivory, and perfumes, would be brought by
the Sabean fhepherds, their carriers, a nation of great Paver

which fhould join themfelves with you.

Acain, Ezekiel fays,t “And they fhall know that I am
“ the Lord, when I have fet a fire in Egypt, and when all
“ her helpers fhall be deftroyed.”—* In that day fhall mef-
* fengers go forth from me in fhips, to make the carelefs
“ Ethiopians afraid.” Now, Nebuchadnezzar was to deftroy
Egypt{, from the frontiers of Paleftine, to the mountains
above Atbara, where the Cufhite dwelt. Between this and
Egypt is a great defert ; the country beyond it, and on both
fides, was pofleffed by half a million of men. The Cufhite, or
negro merchant, was fecure under thefe circumftances from
any infult by land, but they were open to the fea, and had no
defender, and meflengers, therefore, in fhips or a fleet had
eafy accefs to them, to alarm and keep them at home, that
they did not fall into danger by marching into Egypt againtt
Nebuchadnezzar, or interrupting the fervice upon which
God had fent him. But this does not appear from tranfla-

4 7) a,

* Ta. chap. xly. ver. 1A. + Ezek. chap. xxx, ver. 8.and9. + Ezek, chap. xxix. ver. 10.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. Joy

sang :Cudh, Zzbicpian; ithe neareft Ethiopian toiNebuchadnez-
zar, the moft powerful and capable,of eppofing ‘him, wete
the Ethiopian fhepherds of the Thebaid, and thefe were not
saccefiible to {hips and the fhepherds, fo :pofted near to the
Scene of deftrnétion ito be committed by Nebuchadnezzar,
-were,enemies to ithe Cufhites diving in towns, and they had
xepeatedly themfelves deftroyed them, and: therefore had no
temptation tecbe other than {pectators.

_ In -feveral other places, the fame prophet {peaks of Cuth
as the commercial nation, fympathifing with their country=
-men dwelling in the towns in Egypt, independent of sthe
fhepherds, who were really their enemies, both in civil and
religious matters. “ And the fword fhall come upon Egypt,

“ and great pain fhall be in Ethiopia, when the {lain fhall
“ fall in Egypt*.” Now Ethiopia, as I have before faid, that
is, the low country of the fhepherds, neareft Egypt, had‘no
common caufe with the Cuthites that lived in towns there:
it was their countrymen, the Cufhites in Ethiopia, who
mourned for thofe that fell in Egypt, who were merchants,
traders, and dwelt in cities like themfelves. )
=o ii,

I sHALL mention but one inftance more: “Can the Fthi-
“ opian change his fkin, or the leopard his fpots?+” Here
Cufh is rendered Ethiopian, and many Ethiopians being
white, it does not appear why they fhould be fixed upon, ot
chofen for the queftion more than other peopie. But had
uth been tranflated Negro, or Black-moor, the queftion

Vor. 1. 3F would

* Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 4. } Jerem. chap. xiii. ver. 23.

410 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

-would have been very eafily underftood, Can the negro
‘ change his fkin, or the leopard his fpots?

JeremiAn * {peaks of the chiefs of the mingled people
that dwell in the deferts. And Ezekiel} alfo mentions them
independent of all the others, whether Shepherds, or Cu-
fhites, or Libyans their neighbours, by the name of the
Mingled People. TIfaiah ¢ calls them “a-nation fcattered
“ and peeled; apeople terrible from their beginning hitherto;
“a nation meted out and trodden down, whofe land the ri-
“vers have fpoiled:” which is a fufficient defcription of
them, as having been expelled their own country, and fet-
tled in one that had fuffered ee a bear a hair:
time before. \

¥ Jerem. chap. xxv- ver. 24. f Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 5. $Tfa. chap. xviii. ver. 2.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE git

CHAP. III.

- Origin of Charaéters or Letters—Ethiopic the firft Language-—-How and
_ why the Hebrew Letter was formed,

HE reader will obferve what I have already faid con-

cerning the language of Habefh, or the Mingled Na-
tions, that they have not characters of their own; but when
written, which is very feldom, it muft be by ufing the
Geez alphabet. Kircher, however, fays, there are two cha-
racters to be found in Abyflinia; one he calls the Sacred
Old Syrian, the other the Vulgar, or Common Geez charac-
ter, of which we are now fpeaking. But this is certainly a
miftake ; there never was, that I know, but two original
characters which obtained in Egypt. The firft was the
Geez, the fecond the Saitic, and both thefe were the oldeft
characters in the world, and both derived from hierogly-
phics.

ae :
ALTHOUGH it is impoffible to avoid faying fomething
here of the origin of languages, the reader muft not expect
that I fhould go very deep into the fafhionable opinions
Comte ES them, o or believe that all the old deities of the.
ih 2 Pagan

32 | ERAME'L Si F Ol DISMARVAR!

Pagan: nations: were the patriarchs: of the Old Teftament:.
With all refpect. to Sanchoniatho. and. his. followers, I can:
no more: believe that Ofiris, the firft king of Egypt, was a.
real perfonage, and that Tot.was his feeretary, than I can:
believe Saturn to- be the patriarch Abratiam, and Rachel and.
Leah, Venus and Minerva: I-willnot fatigue the reader:
with a detail of ufelefs reafons ; if Ofiris is a real perfonage, ,
if he was king of Egypt, and:Tot his fecretary, they furely
travelled to very good purpofe, as all the people of Europe:
and Afia feem to be agreed; thatin perfon they: firft: com-.
municated letters and the art of writing to.them,.but at.
very different, and very diftant periods.. _

Tuepes: was built by. a:colony of Ethiopians from Siré,,
the city of Seir, or the Dog Stars. Diodorus, Siculus fays,.
that the-GreeKs, by putting: O before Siris, had made the
word unintelligible to the Egyptians : Siris, then, was Ofiris ;;
but he was not the Sun, no more than he was Abraham, nor
was he areal perfonage.. He. was Syrius, or. the’ dog-ftar,.
defigned under the figure of a dog, becaufe of the warning.
he gave to Atbara, where: the firft obfervations were made.
at his heliacal rifing, or his difengaging himfelf.from the.
rays of the fun, fo as to be vilible to the naked eye. He:
was the Latrator Anubis, and his firft appearance was figu-
ratively compared to the barking of.a dog, by the warning:
it gave to. prepare for the approaching inundation... I be--
lieve, therefore, this was the firft hieroglyphic; and that.
ifis, Ofiris, and Tot, were all after inventions relating to it 3;
and, in faying this, I] am fo far warranted, becaufe there is;
not in Axum (once a large city) any other hieroglyphic but:
of the dog-ftar, as far as I can judge from the huge frag-
ments.of figures of this animal, remains of which, in differ

5 ent:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 413

rent poftures, are ftill diftinctly to be feen upon the pedef-
> tals everywhere among the ruins.

Ir is not to be doubted, that hieroglyphics then, but not
aftronomy, were invented at Thebes, where the theory of
the dog-ftar was particularly inveftigated, becaufe conne¢t-
ed with their rural year. Ptolemy* has preferved us an
obfervation of an helaical rifing of Sizius on the ath day
after the fummer folftice, which anfwers to the 2250 year
before Chrift; and there are great reafons to believe the
Thebans were good practical aftronomers long before that
period}; early, as it may be thought, this gives to Thebes
a much greater antiquity than does the chronicle of Axum >
jut cited.

As fuch obfervations were to be of fervice for ever, they
became more valuable and ufeful in proportion to their
priority. The moft ancient of them would be of ufe to the
aftronomers of this day, for Sir Ifaac Newton appeals to thefe
of Chiron the Centaur. Equations may indeed be difcover-
ed in a number of centuries, which, by reafon of the
fmallnefs of their quantities, may very probably have e-
fcaped the moft attentive and fcrupulous care of two. or
three generations ; and many alterations in the ftarry fir-
mament, old ftars being nearly extinguifhed, and new e-
merging, would appear from a comparative ftate of the

ete. 4k heavens.

* Uranologion. P. Perau.
+ Banbridge, Ann, canicul.

eo

414 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

heavens made for a feries of ages. Anda 'Theban Her/ehel®
would have given us the hiftory of planets he then obferved,
which, after appearing for ages, are now vifible no more,
or have taken a different form.

Tue dial, or gold circle of Ofimandyas, fhews what an
immenfe progrefs they had made in aftronomy in fo little
time. This, too, is a proof of an early fall and revival of
the arts in Egypt, for the knowledge and ufe of Armillz
had been loft with the deftruction of Thebes, and were not
again difcovered, that is, revived, till the reign of Ptolemy
Soter, 300 years before the Chriftian era. I confider that
immenfe quantity of hieroglyphics, with which the walls
of the temples, and faces of the obelifks, are covered; as
containing fo many aftronomical obfervations.

I Loox upon thefe as the ephemerides of fome thoufand
years, and that fufficiently accounts for their number. Their
date and accuracy were indifputable; they were exhibited in
the moft public places, to be confulted as occafion required;
and, by the deepnefs of the engraving, and hardnefs of the

aaterials, and the thicknefs and folidity of the block itfelf
upon which they were carved, they bade defiance at once
to violence and time. ~

I xnow that moft of the learned writers are of fentiments
very. different from mine in thefe refpects. They look for

«i oi : ne _ mytteries

* An aftronomer greatly above my praife.

%

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. AXS

myfteries and hidden meanings, moral and philofophical
treatifes, as the fubjects of thefe hieroglyphics. <A fceptre,

they fay, is the hieroglyphic of a king. But where do we
meet’a fceptre upon an antique Egyptian monument? or
who told us this was an emblem of royalty among the E-
gyptians at the time of the firft invention of this figurative
writing? Again, the ferpent with the tail in its mouth de-
notes the eternity of God, that he is without beginning and
without end. This is a Chriftian truth, and a Chriftian be-
lief, but nowhere to be found in the polytheifm of the in-
ventors of hieroglyphics. © Was Cronos or Ouranus without
beginning and without end? Was this the cafe with Ofiris
and Tot, whofe fathers and mothers births and marriages
are known? If this was a truth, independent of eee

and imprinted from the beginning in the minds of men;
if it was deftined to be an eternal truth, which muft have
appeared by every man finding it in his own breaft, from
the beginning, how unneceffary muft the trouble have been
to write a common known truth like this, at the expence
of fix weeks labour, upon a table of porphyry or granite.

Ir is not with philofophy as with aftronomy ; the older
the obfervations;'the more ufe they are of to pofterity. A
lecture of an Egyptian prieft upon divinity, morality, or
natural hiftory, would not pay the trouble, at this day, of
engraving it upon ftone ; and one of the reafons that I think
no fuch fubjeéts were ever treated in hieroglyphics is, that
in all thofe I ever had an opportunity of feeing, and very
few people have feen more, I have conftantly fovihid the fame
figures repeated, which obvioufly,and without difpute, allude
to the hiftory of the Nile, and its different periods of increafe,
a mode 0k meafuring +t, tie Etcfian winds; in fhort, fuch

1 obfervations

416 _TRAVE LS TO DISCOVER.

obfervations as we every day fee in,an almanack, in .which
we cannot fuppofe, that forfaking: the obyious import, where
the good they did was evident, they..fhould, afcribe..dif-
ferent. meanings to the ;hieroglyphic, to which no key has
been left, and therefore their PRCA ES imeiute Pa have
‘been forefeen. et ES Ea ae tae

I sHaty content myfelf in this wide field, to fix upon one
famous hieroglyphical perfonage, which is Zor, the fecretary
of Ofiris, whofe function I fhall endeavour.to. explain ; fil
fail, lam in good .company ; I give :it-only as my, opinion,
and fubmit it chearfully to the corre¢tion of-others. ‘The
word Tot is Ethiopic, and there can be little dowbt it means
the dog-flar. It-was the name .given.-to the ;firft month of
the Egyptian year., The meaning .of the name, in the lan-
guage of the province of Siré, is an ial, compofed of differ-
ent heterogeneous pieces ; it is found having,this fignifica-
tion in many of their books. Thus amaked man is not
a Zot, but the body of a naked man, with a doeg’s head,
an afs’s head, or a ferpent inftead of ahead; is a Toi.
According to the import of that word, it is, I fuppofe,
an almanack, or fection of the phenomena in the -heavens
which are to happen in the limited time it 1s made to.com-
prehend,whenexpofed for the information of thepublic; and

os ae a8 pe toe

the more extenfive its ufe is intended to be, the greater num-

ber of emblems, or figns of obfervation, itis charged with.

BrsipEs many other emblems or figures, the common
Tot, I think, has in his hand.a crofs with a handle, as it is
called Crux Anfata, which has occafioned great fpeculation
among the decypherers. ‘This crofs, fixed to a circle, is fup-
pofed to denote the four clements, and-to be the fymbol of the

2 influence

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ATABLE OF A/ZEROGLYPHICS, FOUND AT AXUM 71.

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THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4t7

influence the fun has over them. Jamblichus* records,
that this crofs, in the hand of Tot, is the name of the divine
Being that travels through the world. Sozomen + thinks it
means the 4 to come, the fame with the ineffable image
of eternity, Others, ftrange difference! fay it is the phal-
Jus, or human genitals, while a later { writer maintains
it to be the mariner’s compafs. My opinion, on the con-
trary is, that, as this figure was expofed to the public
for the reafon I have mentioned, the Crux Anfata in his
hand was Sagas elfe but a monogram of his own name

TO, and TT fignifying TOT, or as we write Almanack upon
a collection publifhed for the fame purpofe.

Tue changing of thefe emblems, and the multitude of
_ them, produced the neceflity of contracting their fize,and this |
again a confequential alteration in the original forms ; and
a ftile, or fmall portable inftrument, became all that was
-neceflary for finifhing thefe {mall Tors, inftead of a large
graver or carving tool, employed in making the large ones.
But men, at laft, were fo much ufed to the alteration, as to
know it better than under its primitive form, and the en-
graving became what we may cali the firft elements, or
Toot, in preference to the original.

"Tue reader will fee, that, in my hiftory of the civil wars
in Abyflinia, the king, forced by rebellion to retire to the
province of Tigré, and being at Axum, found a ftone cover-
ed with hieroglyphics, which, by the many inquiries I made

Vor. 1. iG after

* Jamblich. de Myft. fea. 8. cap. 5s + Sozomen, Eccles. Hift. lib. 7. cap. 15.
i Herw. theolog. Ethnica, p. 11.

418 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

after infcriptions, and fome converfations I had had with
him, he guefled was of the kind which I wanted. Full of
that princely goodnefs and condefcenfion that he ever ho-
noured me with, throughout my whole ftay, he brought it
with him- when he returned from Tigre, and Wee Syd am
to his throne at Gondar. Ce

Ir feems to me to be one of thofe private Tots, or porta-
ble almanacks, of the moft curious kind. _ The length of the
whole ftone is fourteen inches, and fix inches broad, upon
a bafe three inches high, projecting from the block itfelf,
and covered with hieroglyphics. A naked figure of a man,
near fix inches, ftands upon two crocodiles, their heads turn=
ed different ways. In each of his hands he holds two fer-
Ea and a {corpion, all by the tail, and in the right hand
hangs a noofe, in which 1s fufpended a ram or goat. On
the left hand he holds a lion by the tail. The figure is in
great relief; and the head of it with that kind of cap or
ornament wikis is generally- painted upon the head of the
figure called Ifis, but this figure is that of aman. On each
fide of the whole-length figure, and above it, upon the face
of the flone where it projeéts, are marked a number of hie-
roglynhics of all kinds. Over this is a very remarkable
reprefentation; itis an old head, with very ftrong features, a
and a large fe beard, and upon it a high cap ribbed or _
flriped. This I-take to be the Cnuph, or Animus Mundi,
though Apuleus, with very little probability, fays this was
made in the likenefs of no creature whatever. The back
_@f the ftane is divided into ahs compartments*, fr om the

top:

;

*T apprehend this is owing to the circumftances of the climate, in the,four months, the time:
of che inundation, the heavens were fo. covered as to afford no obfervations to be recorded.
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A TABLE OF A/EROGLYPAHICS, FOUND AT AXUM 1771.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 419

top to the bottom, and thefe are filled with hieroglyphics
in the lait ftlage, before they took the entire refemblance
of letters. Many are perfectly formed; the Crux Anfata
appears in one of the compartments, and Tot in another.
Upon the edge, juft above where it is broken, is 1119, fo fair
and perfec&t in form, that it might ferve as an example of

_caligraphy, even in the prefent times ; 45 and 19; and fome

other arithmetical figures, are found up and down among

the hieroglyphics.

Tus I fuppofe was what formerly the Egyptians called

a book, or almanack; a collection of théfe was probably -

hung up in fome confpicuous place, to inform the public of
the ftate of the heavens, and feafons, and difeafes, to be ex-
pected in the courfe of them, as is the cafe in the Englith al-
manacks at this day. Hermes is faid to have compofed
36,535 books, probably of this fort, or they might contain
the correfpondent aftronomical obfervations made in a cer-
tain time at Meroé, Ophir, Axum, or Thebes, communicated
to be hung up forthe ufe of the neighbouring cities. Por-
phyry * gives a particular account of the Egyptian alma-
nacks. “ What is comprifed in the Egyptian almanacks, fays
he, contains but a fmall part of the Hermaic inflitutions; all
that relates to the rifing and fettmg of the moon and pla-
nets, and of the flars and their influence, and alfo fome ad-
wice upon difeafes.”

Ir is very remarkable, that, befides my Tot here defcrib-
ed, there ‘are five or fix, precifely the fame in all refpedcts, al-
4G2 ready

* Porpyhry Epift, ad Anebonem.

420 -TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ready in the Britifh Mufeum; one of them, the largeft of the-
whole, is made of fycamore, the others are of metal. There
is another, I am told, in Lord Shelburn’s collection ; this:I
never had an opportunity of feeing; but a very principal
attention feems to have been paid to make all of them

light and portable, and it would feem that by thefe having
been formed fo exactly fimilar, they were the Tots intend-.
ed to be expofed in different cities or places, and were neither:

more nor lefs than Egyptian almanacks.

WHETHER letters were known to Noah before the flood,,

is no where faid from any authority, and the inquiry into
it is therefore ufelefs. It is difficult, in my opinion, to ima-
gine, that any fociety,engaged in different occupations, could

fubfift long without them. There feems to be lefs doubt,

that they were invented, foon after the difperfion, long be-
fore Mofes, and in common ufe among the Gentiles of his
time.. ;

.
x

Ir feems alfo probable, that the firft alphabet was Ethio-
pic, firft founded on hieroglyphics, and afterwards model-
led into more current, and lefs laborious figures, for the
fake of applying them to the expedition of bufinefs.. Mr
Fourmont is fo much of this opinion, that he fays it is evi-

dent the three firft letters of the Ethiopic alphabet are hiero-.
glyphics yet, and that the Beta refembles the door of a
houfe or temple. But, with great fubmiflion, the doors of
houfes and temples, when firft built, were fquare at the top,.

for arches were not known. The Beta was taken from the

doors of the firft Troglodytes in the mountains, which were.

rounded, and gave the hint for turning the arch, when

architecture advanced nearer to perfection,
OTHERS:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 423

Oruers are for giving to letters a divine original: they
fay they were taught to Abraham by God himfelf; but
_this-is no where vouched; though it cannot be denied, that
it appears from fcripture there were two forts of characters
known to Mofes, when God fpoke to him on Mount Sinai.
The firft two tables, we are told, were wrote by the finger of
God, in what character is not faid, but Mofes received them
to read to the people, fo he furely underftood them. But,
when he had broken thefe two tables, and had another meet-
ing with God on the mount on the fubject of the law, God
directs him fpecially not to write in the Egyptian character
or hieroglyphics, but in the current hand ufed by the Ethi-
opian merchants, Uke the letters wpon a fignet; that is, he
fhould not write in hieroglyphics by a fiGure, reprefenting
the ¢hing, for that the law forbids; and the bad confequences
of this were evident; but he fhould write the law in the
current hand, by characters reprefenting founds, (though
nothing elfe in heaven or on earth,) or by the letters that
the Ifhmaelites, Cufhites, and India trading nations had long
ufed in bufinefs for figning their invoices, engagements, &«..
and this was the meaning of being Mike the letters of a fignet.

HENcE, it is very clear, God did not invent letters, ner:
did Mofes, who underftood both characters before the pro-
mulgation .of the law upon Mount Sinai, having learned
them in Egypt, and during his long flay among the Cu-
fhites, and Shepherds in Arabia Petrea. Hence it fhould
appear alfo, that the facred character of the Egyptian
was confidered as profane, and forbid to the Hebrews,
and that the common Ethiopic was the Hebrew facred
character, in which the copy of the law was firft wrote.
The text is very clear and explicit: “ And the ftones fhall

r: ee be

422 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

“ be with the zames of the children of Hrael, twelve,
“ according to their ames, like the engravings of a fignet; every
“ one with his zame, {hall they be according to the twelve
“ tribes*.” Which is plainly, You fhall not write in the way
ufed till this day, for it leads the people into idolatry; you
fhall not type Judah by a “on, Zebulun by a /aif, Iflachar by
an afs couching between two burdens $ but, inftead of wri-
ting by pictures, you fhall take the other known hand, the
merchants writing, which fignifies founds, not things; write
the names Judah, Zebulun, Mfachar, in the letters, fuch as the

merchants ufe upon their fignets. And, on Aaron’s breaft-

plate of pure gold, was to be written, in the fame alphabet,
like the engravings of a fignet, nozIvESS TO THE LoRDT, |

Turse fignets, of the remoteft antiquity in the Eaft, are worn
ftill upon every man’s hand to this day, having the name of
the perfon that wears them, or fome fentence upon it always
religious. The Greeks, after the Egyptians, continued the
other method, and defcribed figures upon their fignet; the
uufe of both has been always common in Britain,

We find afterwards, that, in place of ftone or gold, for
greater convenience Mofes wrote in a book, “And it came
“ to pafs, when Mofes had made an end of writing the
“ words of this law in a book, until they were finifhed;{”---

A.ttruoucn, then, Mofes certainly did not invent either,
or any character, it is probable that he’ made two, perhaps
more, alterations in the Ethiopic alphabet as it then ftood,

4 with

*® Exod, chap. xxvili. ver. 21. $ Exod. chap. xxviii. ver. 36. Deut. chap. xxx. ver. 24+

THE SOURCE OF THENILE — 423

with a view to increafe the difference ftill more between
the writing then in ufe among the nations, and what he
intended to be peculiar to the Jews. The firft was altering
the direction, and writing from right to left, whereas, the
Ethiopian was, and is to this day, written from left to right,
as was the hieroglyphical alphabet*. The fecond was ta-
king away the points, which, from all times, muft have ex-.
ifted and been, as it were, 2 part of the Ethiopic letters in-
vented with them, and I do not fee how it is poffible it ever
could have been read without them; fo that, which way
foever the difpute may turn concerning the antiquity of
the application of the Maforetic points, the invention was
no new one, but did exift as early as language was written.
And I apprehend; that thefe alterations were very rapidly
adopted after the writing of the law, and applied to the
new character as it then ftood; becaufe, not long after,
Mofes was ordered to fubmit the law itfelf to the people,
which would have been perfectly ufelefs, had not reading
and the character been familiar to them at that time.

Ir appears to me alfo, that the Ethiopic words were al-
ways feparated, and could not run together, or be joined
as the Hebrew, and thatthe running the words together in-
tro one muft have been matter of choice in the Hebrew, to
increafe the difference in writing the two languages, as
the contrary had been practifed in the Ethiopian language.
Though there is reaily little refemblance between the Ethio-
pic and the Hebrew letters, and not much more between

that

* Vide the hieroglyphies on the drawing of the ftone.

424 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

that and the Samaritan, yet I have a very great fufpicion”
the languages were once much nearer a-kin than this difa-
greement of their alphabet promifes, and, for this reafon,
that a very great number of words are found throughout
the Old Teftament that have really no root, nor can be de-
rived from any Hebrew origin, and yet all have, in the Ethio-'
pic, a plain, clear, unequivocal origin, to and from which
they can be traced without force or difficulty.

I sHALt now finifh what I have to fay upon this fubjeé,
by obferving, that the Ethiopic alphabet confifts of twenty-.
fix letters, each of thefe, by a virgula, or point annexed,
varying in found, fo as to become, in effect, forty-two di-
ftin& letters. But I muft further add, that at firft they had
but twenty-five of thefe original letters, the Latin P being
wanting, fo that they were obliged tofubftitute another letter
in the place of it. Paulus, for example, they called Taulus,
Oulus, or Caulus. Petros they pronounced Ketros. At laft
they fubftituted T, and added this to the end of their alpha-
bet, giving it the force of P, though it was really a repeti-
tion of a character, rather than invention. Befides thefe
there are twenty others of the nature of dipththongs, but I
fhould fuppofe fome of thefe are not of the fame antiquity
with the letters of the alphabet, but have been invented in
later times by the fcribes for convenience.

Tue reader will underftand, that, fpeaking of the Ethio-
pic at prefent, I mean only the Geez language, the language
of the Shepherds, and of the books. None of the other
many languages fpoken in Abyffinia have characters for -
writing. But when the Amharic became fubftituted, in ©
common ufe and-converfation, to the Geez, after the refto-

3 ration —

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 425

ration of the Royal family, from their long banifhment in
Shoa, feven new characters were neceflarily added to anfwer
the pronunciation of this new language, but no book was
ever yet written in any other language except Geez. On the
contrary, there is an old law in this country, handed down by
tradition only, that whoever fhould attempt to tranflate
the holy fcripture into Amharic, or any other language,
his throat fhould be cut after the manner in which they
kill fheep, his family fold to flavery, and his houfe razed to
the ground; and, whether the fear of this law was true
or feigned, it was a great obftacle to me in getting thofe
tranflations of the Song of Solomon made which I intend
for fpecimens of the different languages of thofe diftinct
nations. |

_ Tue Geez is exceedingly harfh and unharmonious. It is
full of thefe two letters, D and T, on which an accent is put
that nearly refembles ftammering. Confidering the {mall
extent of fea that divides this country from Arabia, we are
not to wonder that it has great affinity to the Arabic. It is
not difficult to be acquired by thofe whounderftand any o-
ther of the oriental lan guages ; and, for a reafon I have gi-
ven fome time ago, that the roots of many Hebrew words
are only to be found here, I think it abfolutely neceflary
to all thofe that would obtain a critical {kill in that lan-
guage. ‘

Wemmers, a Carmelite, has wrote a fmall Ethiopic dic-
tionary in thin quarto, which, as far as it goes, has confider-.
able merit; and I am told there are others of the fame kind
extant, written chiefly by Catholic priefts. But by far the moft
copious, diftinct, and beft-digefted work, is that of Job Lu-

VoL. L ys oe dolf,

ae TRAVELS TO DISCOVER,

dolf, a-Germaa ef great learning-in the Eaftern languages;
and who has publifhed a. grammar and’ dictionary of the
Geez in folio. This. read with attention is:more than fuf-
ficient to make any perfon of very moderate genius a great
proficient i in the Ethiopic language. He.has hkewifewaitten
a fhort eflay towards a.ditionary and grammar of the Am-
haric, which, confidering the very {mall help.he had, fhews ;
his furprifing talents. and capacity. Much, however, re-
mains itill to do; and it is indeed f{carcely poflible to bring |
this to any tolerable degree of forwardnefs for want of ©
books, unlefs.a man.of genius, while inthe country itfelf, .
were to give his time and application to it: It is not:
much more difficult than the former, and lefs connected.
with the Hebrew. or. Arabic, but: has a more harmonious.
pronunciation...

CHAP: 4

THE SOURCE-OF THENILE 427

CH AB) aN.

“Some Account of the Trade Winds and Monfoins-—cipplitation of this
to the Voyage to Ophir-and Taxfnifh.

YT is a matter of cal affliction, which fhews the vanity of
all human attainments, that the preceding pages have
been employedin defcribing, and, as it were, drawing from
oblivion, the hiftory of thofe very nations that firft convey-
edto the world, not the elements of literature only, but all
forts of learning, arts, and fciences in their fuil detail and
perfection. We fee that thefe had taken ‘deep root, and
were not eafily extirpated. The firft great and fatal blow
they received was from the deftruction of Thebes, and its
monarchy, by the firft invafion of the Shepherds under Sa-
latis, which fhook them to the very foundation. ‘The next
was in the conqueft of the Thebaid under Sabaco and his |
Shepherds. The third was when the empire of Lower Egypt
{1 do not think of the Thebaid) was transferred to Mem-
phis, and thar city taken, as writers fay, by the Shepherds
of Abaris only, or of the Delta, thoughit is fcarcely proba+
ble, that,4a fo favourite a caufe as the deftruction of cities,
the whole Shep pherds did not lend their aflifance.
3He2 ‘THeEst

428 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

THESE were the calamities, we may fuppofe, under which
the arts in Egypt fell ; for, as to the foreign conquefts of Ne-

buchadnezzar and his-Babylonians, they affected cities and —

the perfons of individuals only. They were temporary, ne-
ver intended to have lafting confequences ; their beginning
and end were prophefied at the fame time. That of the
Affyrians was a plundering expedition only, as we are told

by fcripture itfelf, intended to laft but forty years *, half the

hfe of man, given, for a particular purpofe,forthe indemnifi-
cation of the king Nebuchadnezzar, for the hardfhips he

fuftained at the fiege of Tyre, where the obftinacy of the ~

inhabitants, in deftroying their wealth, deprived the con-
queror of his expected booty. The Babylonians were a
people the moft polithed after the Egyptians. Egypt under
them fuffered by rapacity, butnot by i ignorance, as it oe In:
_all the conquefts of the Pepe a eee . |

Arter Thebes was deftroyed by the firft Shepherds, com-
merce, and it is probable the arts with it, fled for a time
from Egypt, and centered in Edom, a city and territory, tho’
we know little of its hiftory, at that period the richeft in the
world. David, in the very neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon,
calls Edom the ftrong city ; “ Who will bring me into the
“flrong city? Who will lead’ me into Edom +?” David,
from an old quarrek, and probably frona the recent in-
{tigations of the Tyrians his friends, invaded Edom f,
deftroyed the city, and difperfed the people... He was

the great military power then upon the continent ; Tyre ~

and Edom were rivals; and his conqueft of vine laft
' great

* Ezek. chap, xix. ver. 21. “+ Pfalm. chap. Ix. ver. 9. and Pfal. eviil. ver. tos,
{2 Sam. chap. viii. ver. 14. 1 Kings.chap. x’. ver..15,16..

-

THEASOURGE OF THEINILE, 429

great and trading ftate, which he united to his empire,
would yet have loft him the trade he fought to cultivate, by
the very means he ufed to obtain it, had not Tyre been in
a capacity to fucceed to Edom, and to collec its mariners
and artificers, fcattered abroad by the conquett.

Davin took poffeflion of two ports, Eloth and Ezion-ga-
ber *, from which he carried on the trade to Ophir and Tar-

fhifh, to a very great extent, to the day of his death. Weare

firuck with aftonifhment when we reflect upon the fum
that Prince received in fo fhort a time from thefe mines of
Ophir. For what is faid to be given by King David} and his
Princes for the building of the Temple of Jerufalem, ex-
ceeds in value eight hundred millions of our money, if the

talent there fpoken of is a Hebrew talent{, and not a weight |

of the fame denomination, the value of which was lefs, and
peculiarly referved for and ufed in the traffic of thefe pre-

. cious metals, gold and filver. It was, probably, an African

or Indian weight, proper to the fame mines, whence was
gotten the gold appropriated to fine commodities only, as is
the cafe with our ounce Troy different from the Averdu-

pole. .

Sotomon, who fucceeded David in his kingdom, was his
fucceflor hkewife in the friendfhip of Hiram king of Tyre,
| ; Solomon

* 1 Kings, chap. ix. ver. 26, 2 Chron. chap. viii. vers 17. + 1 Chron. chap. xxii. ver, 145
37,16. Chap, xxix. ver. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.—Thbree thoufand Hebrew talents of gold, reduced to

our money, amount to twenty-one milliens and fix hundred thoufand pounds Sterling.

£ The value of a Hebrew talent appears from Exodus, chap. xxxviii. ver. 25, 26. For

. ayes on

603,550 perfons being taxed at half a fhekel each, they muft have paid in the whole 301,975 3
now that fum ts faid to amount to 100 talents, 1775 fliekels only; deduct the two latter fums,
and there will remain 300,c00, which, divided by 108, will leave 3000 thekels for each of

thefe talents..

430 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

Solomon vifited Eloth and Ezion-gaber* in perfon, and for-
tified them. He colleted a number of pilots, fhipwrights,
and mariners, difperfed by his father’s conqueft of Edom,
moft of whom had taken refuge in Tyre and Sidon, the,
commercial fates in the Mediterrancan. Hiram fupplied
‘him with failors in abundance; but the failors fo furnithed
from Tyre were not capable of performing the fervice
which Solomon required, without the direction of pilots and
mariners ufed to the navigation of the Arabian Gulf and

Indian Ocean. Such were thofe mariners who formerly li- —

ved in Edom, whom Solomon had now collected in Eloth
and Ezion-gaber. : )

Tuts laft-mentioned navigation was very different in all
re{pects from that of the Mediterranean, which, in refpect
to the former, might be compared to a pond, every fide be-
ing confined with fhores little diftant the one from the o-
ther; even that fmall extent of fea was fo full of iflands,
that there was much greater art required in the pilot to a-
void land than to reach it. It was, befides, fubject to vari-
able winds, being to the northward of 30° of latitude, the
limits to which Providence hath confined thofe winds all o-
ver the globe; whereas the navigation of the Indian Ocean
was governed by laws more convenient and regular, though
altogether different from thofe that obtained in the Medi-
terranean. Before I proceed, it will be neceflary to explain
this phenomenon. ,

Ir is known to all thofe who are ever fo dittle verfant in
the hiftory of Egypt, that the wind frem the nerth prevails

im

7
* 2 Chron. chap. vill ver 17.

~

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 430

in that valley all the furmmer months, and is called the E-
tefian-winds ; it {weeps the valley from north to fouth, that
being the direction of Egypt, and of the Nile, which runs
through the midft of it. The two. chains. of mountains,.
which confine Egypt on the eaft and-on the weit, conftrain: .
the wind to take this precife direction.
a

Ir is natural to fuppofe the fame would be the cafe in the
Arabian Gulf, had that narrow fea been in a direétion pa--
rallel to the land of Egypt, or due north and fouth. The
Arabian. Gulf. however, or what we call:the Red Sea, lies.
from nearly north-weft to fouth-eaft, from Suez to Mocha.
It then turns nearly eaft and weft till it joins the Indian O-
cean at the Straits of Babelmandeb, as we:have already faid,.
and may be further feen by confulting the map.. Now, the
Etefian winds, which are due north in Egypt, here take the
direction of the Gulf, and blow in that direction fteadily all.
the feafon, while it continues north in the valley of Egypt ;
that is, from: April- to October the wmd biows north-weft
up the Arabian Gulf towards the Straits; and,.from No-
vember till March, directly contrary, down the Arabian.
Gulf, from the Straits of Babelmandeb to Suez and the Ith-
mus. .

Tresz winds are by fome corruptly called the trade-winds;
but this name given to them is a very erroneous one, and:
apt to confound narratives; and make them unintelligible.
A trade-wind is a wind which, ail the year throwgh, blows...
and has ever. blown, fromthe fame point of the horizon;
fuch is the fouth-weit, fouth of the Line, in the Indian and.
Pacific Ocean. On the contrary, thefe winds, of which we
have now {fpoken, are called monfoons; each year they blow

Be fine

432 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

fix months from the northward, and the other fix months.
from the fouthward, in the Arabian Gulf: While in the
Indian Ocean, without the Straits of Babelmandeb, they
blow juft the contrary at the fame feafons ; that is, in fummer
from the fouthward, and in winter from the northward,
fubjeét to a fmall inflexion to the eaft and to the weft.

Tue reader will obferve, then, that, a veffel failing from
Suez or the Elanitic Gulf, in any of the fummer months, .
will find a fteady wind at north-weft, which will carry it in >
the direction of the Gulf to Mocha. At Mocha, the coaft is
eaft and weft to the Straits of Babelmandeb, fo that the vef-
fel from Mocha will have variable winds for a fhort fpace,
but moftly wefterly, and thefe will carry her on to the
Straits. She is then done with the monfoon in the Gulf,
which was from the north, and, being in the Indian Ocean,
is taken up by the monfoon which blows in the fummer
months there, and is direétly contrary to what obtains in
the Gulf This ‘is a fouth-wefter, which carries the veffel
with a flowing fail to any part in India, without delay or
impediment. Aime:

Tue fame happens upon her return home. She fails in °
the winter months by the monfoon proper to that fea, that
is, with a north-eaft, which carries her through the Straits
of Babelmandeb. She finds, within the Gulf, a wind at
fouth-eaft, directly contrary to what was in the ocean; but
then her courfe is contrary likewife, fo that a fouth-eafter,
anfwering to the direction of the Gulf, carries her direétly
to Suez, or the Elanitic Gulf, to whichever way fhe pro-
pofes going, Hitherto all is plain, fimple, and eafy to be

‘ 4 underftood;

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE © 433

underftood; and this was the reafon why, in the earlieft
ages, the India trade was carried on without difficulty.

Many doubts, however, have arifen about a port called
Ophir, whence the immenfe quantities of gold and filver
came, which were neceffary at this time, when provifion
was making for building the Temple of Jerufalem. In what
part of the world this Ophir was has not been yet agreed.
Connected with this voyage, too, was one to Tarfhifh, which
fuffers the fame difficulties ; one and the fame fleet perform-
ed them both in the fame feafon.

In order to come to a certainty where this Ophir was, it
will be neceflary to examine what fcripture fays of it, and
to keep precifely to every thing like defcription which we
can find there, without indulging our fancy farther. if,
then, the trade to Ophir was carried on from the Elanitic
Gulf through the Indian Ocean. Secondly, The returns were
gold, filver, and ivory, but efpecially filver*. Thirdly, The
time of the going and coming of the fleet was precifely
three years, at no period more nor lefs.

Now, if Solomon’s fleet failed from the Elanitic Gulf to
the Indian Ocean, this voyage of neceflity muft have been
made by monfoons, for no other winds reign in that ocean.
And, what certainly fhews this was the cafe, is the precife
term of three years, in which the fleet went and came be-
tween Ophir and Ezion-gaber. For it is plain, fo as to fu-
perfede the neceflity of proof or argument, that, had this

Vor. I... ad voyage

* 3 Kings, chap. x. ver. 22. +1 Kings, chap. x. ver. 22. 2Chron. chap. ixe ver. 21.

434 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER |

voyage been made with variable winds, no limited term of
years ever could have been obferved in,its going. and re-
turning. The fleet might have returned from Ophir in
two years, in three, four, or five years; but, with variable
winds, the return precifely in three years was not, at 0

whatever part of the globe Ophiz: might be) pet Moms
NerrHer Spain nor Peru nalts be Oph bity part’ ‘of dese
voyages muft have been made by variable winds, and the
return confequently uncertain. The ifland of €eylon, in the
Eaft Indies, could not be Ophir ; the voyage thizher'is indeed
made by monfoons, but we have fhewed that a year is all.
that can be fpent ina voyage: to the: Eaft Indies ; befides,
Ceylon has neither gold nor filver, though it has ivory. St.
Domingo has neither gold, nor filver, nor ivory. When the
Tyrians difcovered Spain, they found a profufion of filver,
in huge mafles, but this they. brought to Tyre by the Me-.
diterranean, and then fent it to. the Red Sea over land to an—
fwer the returns from India: Taxrfhifh, too, is not found,
to be a port in any of thefe voyages, fo that part of the;
defcription fails, nor were there ever elephants bred. in:

Spain..

THESE mines of Ophir were probably what furnithed the-
Eaft with gold in the earlieft times 5 great) traces of) exca=-
vation muift, therefore, have appeared; yet in none of . ‘the.
places juft mentioned are there great remains of ahy mines:
that have been wrought: The. ancient traces of filver-mines)
in Spain. are not to be found, and there never were any of
gold. John. Dos Santos*, a. Dominican. friar, fays, that on
the

* Vid. Voyage of Dos Santos, publifhed by. Le Grande.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 435

the coaft of Africa, in the kingdom of Sofala, the main-
land oppofite to Madagafcar, there are mines of gold and
filver, than which none can be more abundant, eipecially
in- filver. They bear the traces of having been wrought
from the earlieft ages. They were actually open and work-
ing when the Portuguefe conquered that part of the pe-
ninfula, and were probably given up fince the difcovery
of the new world, rather from political than any other rea-
fons. i
Joun Dos Santos fays, that he landed at Sofala in the
year 1586; that he failed up the great river Cuama as far as
Teté, where, always defirous to be in the neighbourhood of
gold, his Order had placed their convent. Thence he pene-
trated for above two hundred leagues into the country, and
faw the gold mines then working, at a mountain called A-
fura*. At a confiderable diftance from thefe are the filver
mines of Chicoua; at both places there is great appearance of
ancient excavations; and at both places the houfes of the
kings are built with mud and ftraw, whilft there are large
remains of maffy buildings of ftone and lime.

'

Ir is a tradition which generally obtains in that country,
that thefe works belonged to the Queen of Saba, and were
built at the time, and for the purpofe -of ‘the trade on the
Red Sea: this tradition is common ‘to all the Cafrs in
that country. Eupolemus,an ancient author quoted by
Eufebius +, {peaking of David, fays, that‘ he built fhips-at
Eloth, a city im Arabia, and thence ferit miners, or, as he
fll fO8Da , calls

+

TER re

* Sce the map of this voyage. + Apud Eufeb. Prep. Evang. lib. 9.

436 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

calls them, metal-men, to Orphi, or Ophir, an ifland.in the Red’
Sea. Now, by the: Red Sea, he underftands the Indian
Ocean *; and by Orphi, he probably meant the ifland of
Madagafcar; or Orphi (or Ophir) might have been the
name of the Continent,inftead of Sofala, that is, Sofala where:
the mines are might have been the main-land of Orphi..

Tue kings of the ifles are often mentioned in this voy=.
age ; Socotra, Madagaicar, the Commorras, and many other.
{mall iflands thereabout, are probably thofe the {cripture
calls the Jes. All, then, at laft reduces itfelf to the finding
a place, either Sofala, or any other place adjoining to it,
which avowedly can furnifh gold, filver, and ivory in quan-
tity, has large tokens of ancient excavations, and is at
the fame time under fuch.reftrictions from monfoons, that
three years are abfolutely neceflary to perform the voyage,
that it needs no more, and cannot be. done in lefs, and this
is Ophir.

Ler us now try thefe mines of Dos Santos by the laws of
the monfoons, which we have already laid down in defcri-
bing the voyage to India.. The fleet, or fhip, for. Sofala, part-
ing in June from Ezion-gaber, would run down before the
northern monfoon to Mocha.. Here, not the monfoon, but
the direction of the Gulf changes, and: the violence of the
fouth-wefters, which then reign in the Indian Ocean, make
themfelves at times felt even in Mocha Roads.. The veflel
therefore comes to an anchor in the harbour of Mocha,,
and here fhe waits for moderate weather and a fair wind,.

which.

-* Dionyfii Periegefis, ver. 38. and Comment. Euftathii in eundem. Strabo, lib. 16. p. 765...
Agathemeri Geographia, lib, 2, cap. 11.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 437

which carries her out of the Straits of Babelmandeb, through:
the few leagues where the wind is variable. If her courfe:
was now to the Eaft Indies, that is eaft-north-eaft, or north-
eaft and by north, fhe would find a ftrong fouth-weft wind
that would carry her to any part of India, as foon as fhe:
cleared Cape Gardefan, to which fhe was bound.

Bur matters are widely different if fhe is bound for So-.
fala; her courfe is nearly fouth-weft, and fhe meets at Cape:
Gardefan a ftrong fouth-wefter that blows. directly in her
teeth. Being obliged to return into the gulf, fhe miftakes
this for a trade-wind, becaufe fhe is not able to make her
voyage to Mocha but by the fummer monfoon, which car-
ries her no farther than the Straits of Babelmandeb, and:
then leaves her in the face of a contrary wind, a ftrong cur-.
rent to the northward, and violent fwell.

THE attempting this voyage with fails, in thefe circum-.
ftances, was abfolutely impoflible, as their veffels went only
before the wind : if it was performed at all, it muft have been
by oars*, and great havock and lofs.of men muft have been
the confequence of the feveral trials. This is not conjec-
ture only; the prophet Ezekiel defcribes the very fact..
Speaking of the Tyrian voyages probably of this very one
he fays,. “ Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters:
* (the ocean): the eaft wind hath: breken thee in the
midit of the feast.” In fhort, the eaft, that is the north-eaft
wind, was the very monfoon that was to carry them to So-:
fala, yet having no fails, being upon a lee-fhore, a very bold

3 coatt,

. * Ezek, chap. xxvii. ver. 6. + Ezek. chap. xxvil. ver. 26..

438 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

coaft, and great fwell, it was abfolutely impoffible with oars
to fave themfelves from deftruction. .

Art laft philofophy and obfervation, together with the
unwearied perfeverance of man bent upon his own views
and intereft, removed thefe difficulties, and fhewed the ma-
riners of the Arabian Gulf, that thefe periodical winds, which,
in the beginning, they looked upon as invincible barriers to
the trading to Sofala, when once underftood, were the very
means of performing this voyage fafely and expeditioully. —

Tue veffel trading to Sofala failed, as I have faid, from the
bottom of the Arabian Gulf.in fummer, with the monfoon
at north, which carried her to Mocha. There the monfoon
failed her by the change of the direction of the Gulf. The
fouth-weft winds, which ‘blow without Cape Gardefan in
the Indian Ocean, forced themfelves round the Cape fo as to

be felt.in the road of Mocha, and make at‘uneafy riding”

there. But thefe foon changed, the weather became mo-
derate, and the veflel, I fuppofe in the month of Auguft, was
fafe at anchor under Cape Gardefan, where was the port
which, many years afterwards, was called Promontorium
Aromatum. Here the fhip was obliged to flay all No-
vember, becaufe all thefe fummer months the wind fouth
of the Cape was a ftrong fouth-wefter, as hath been before
faid, direCtly in the teeth of the voyage to Sofala. But this
time was not lott ; ; part of the goods bought to be ready for
the return was ivory, frankincenfe, and myrrh; —_ the rs
was then at the principal mart for thefe.

I suppose in November the veffel failed with the wind at
north-eatt, with which fhe would foon have made her voy-
I age.

—---

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. — 439

age: But off the coaft of Melinda, in the beginning of De-
cember, fhe there met ananomalous monfoon at fouth-weft,.
in our days firft obferved by Dr Halley, which cut off her
voyage to Sofala, and obliged her to put in to the fmall har-
bour of Mocha, near Melinda, but nearer ftill to Tarfhith,.
which we find here by accident, and which we think a
firong corroboration that we are right as to the reft of the
voyage. Inthe Annals of Abyflinia, we fee that Amda Sion,
making war upon that coaft in the rath century, in a lift
of the rebellious Moorith vafifals, mentions the Chief of Tar-
-fhifh as one of them, in the very fituation where we have
now placed him..

Sotomon’s vefiel, then, was obliged to-ftay at Tarfhith till
the month of April of the fecond year. In May, the wind
fet in at north-eaft, and probably carried her that fame month
to Sofala. All the time fhe fpent at Tarfhifh was not loft,
for partof her cargo was to be brought from that place, and
fhe probably bought, befpoke, or left it there. From May
of the fecond year, to the end of that monfoon in October,
the veffel could not ftir; the wind was north-eaft. But this
time, far from being loft, was necefiary to the traders for
getting in their cargo, which we fhall. shidarec aes was St
for them..

Tue fhip fails, on her return, in the month of November.
-of the fecond year, with the monfoon fouth-weft, which in:
a very few weeks would have carried her into the Arabian
Gulf. But off Mocha, near Melinda and Tarfhifh, fhe met:
the north-eaft monfoon, and was obliged to go into that
port and ftay there tillthe end of that monfoon ; after which:
a.fouth-weller came to her relief in May of the third year..
Wath:

440 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

With the May monfoon fhe ran to Mocha within the Straits;
and was there confined by the fummer monfoon blowing —
up the Arabian Gulf from Suez, and meeting her. Here fhe
lay till that monfoon, which in fummer blows northerly
from Suez, changed to a fouth-eaft one in October or No-
vember, and that very eafily brought her. up into the Ela-
nitic Gulf, the middle or end of December of the third year.
She had no need of more time to complete her voyage, and
it was not poffible fhe could do it inlefs. In fhort, fhe
changed the monfoon fix times, which is thirty-fix months,
or three years exactly; and there is not another combination
of monfoons over the globe,as far as I know, capable to
effect the fame. The reader will pleafe to confult the map,
and keep it before-him, which will remove any difficulties
he may have. It is for his inftruction this map has been
made, not for that of the learned prelate * to whom it is
infcribed, much more capable of giving additional lights,
than in need of receiving any information I can give, even
on this fubject.

Tue celebrated Montefquieu conjectures, that Ophir was
really on the coaft of Africa ; and the conjecture of that great
man Merits more attention than the affertions of ordinary
people. He is too fagacious, and too enlightened, either to
doubt of the reality of the voyage itfelf, or to feek for Ophir
and Tarfhifh in China. Uninformed, however, of the par-
ticular direction of the monfoons upon the coaft, firft very
flightly fpoken of by Eudoxus, and lately obferved and de-

henated

* Dr Douglas, Bifhop of Carlifle.

THE- SOURCE OF THE NILE. 44?

lineated by Dr Halley, he was ftaggered upon confidering
that the whole diftance, which employed a veffel in Solo-
mon’s time for three years, was a thoufand leagues, fcarce-
ly more than the work of a month. He, therefore, fuppofes,
that the reafon of delay was owing to the imperfection of
the veffels, and goes into very ingenious calculations, rea~
fonings, and conclufions thereupon. He conjectures, there-
fore, that the fhips employed by Solomon were what he
calls junks* of the Red Sea, made of papyrus, and covered
with hides or leather.

Purny } had faid, that one of thefe junks of the Red Sea,
was twenty days on a voyage, which a Greek or Roman
veffel would have performed in feven ; and Strabot had
faid the fame thing before him.

Tuis relative flownefs, or fwiftnefs,.will not folve the dif-
ficulty. For, if thefe junks || were the veffels employed to.
Ophir, the long voyage, much more they would have been
employed on the fhort one, to and from India ; now they
performed this within a year, which was all a Roman or
Greek veffel could do, therefore this was not the caufe..
Thofe employed by Solomon were Tyrian and Idumean vef-
fels, the beft fhips and failers of their age. Whoever has
feen the prodigious fwell, the violent currents, and ftrong
fouth-wefters beyond the Straits of Babelmandeb, will not
need any argument to perfuade him, that no veflel-made of:
papyrus, or leather, could live an hour upon that fea. The

Vo... I, 2K junks,,

*Vide L’Efprit des Loix, liv. xxi. cap. 6. p.476. + Plin. lib. vi. cap. 22. t Strabo, lib. xv: -
"I know there are contrary opinions, and the junks might have been various. - Vide-Salnx -

442 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER”

junks, indeed, were light and convenient boats, made to
crofs the narrow gulf between the Sabeans and Homerites,
or Cufhites, at Azab upon the Red Sea, and carry provifions
from Arabia Felix to the more defert coaft of Azab. I have
hinted, that the names of places fufficiently demonftrate
the great lofs of men that happened to the traders to Sofala
before the knowledge of the monfoons, and the introduc
tion of the ufe of fails. .

I sHALL now confider how far the thing is confirmed by
the names of places in the language of the country, fuch
as they have retained amorig them to the prefent day.

Tere are three Mochas mentioned im this voyage, fitu-
ated in countries very diffimilar to, and diftant from, each
other. The firft is in Arabia Deferta, in lat. 36° nearly, not
far from the bottom of the Gulf of Suez. The fecond is in
lat. 13°,a fmall diftance from the Straits of Babelmandeb.
The third Mocha is in lat. 3° fouth, near Tarfthith, on the coaft ”
of Melinda. Now, the meaning of Mocha, in the Ethiopic,
is prifon; and is particularly given to thefe three places, be-
caufe, in any of thefa, a fhip 1s forced to flay cr be detain-
ed for months, till the changing of the monfoon fets her
at liberty to purfuc her voyage. At Mocha, near the bottom
of the Gulf of Suez, a veflel, wanting to proceed fouthward
to Babelmandcb, is kept here in prifon all winter, till the
fummer monfoon fets herat liberty. At Mocha, in Arabia
Felix, the fame happens to any veflel wanting to proceed

o Suez in the fummer months; fhe may come up from
the Straits of Babelmandeb to Mocha Read by the acciden-
tal direction of the head of the Guif; but, in the month of
May, the north-weft wind obliges her ta put into Mocha,

“2a

2 } and

THE SOURCE OF°THE NILE, : A443

and there to ftay till the fouth-eafter relieves her in Novem-
ber. After you double Gardefan, the fummer monfoon,,
at north-eaft, is carrying your veflél full fail to Sofala, when:
the anomalous monfoon takes her off the coaft of Melinda,,.
and forces her into Tarfhith, where the is imprifoned for fix
months in the Mocha there. So that this word is very em--
phatically applied to thofe places where fhips are neceflarily
detained by the change of monfoons, and. proves the truth:
of what I have faid.. :

Tue laft Cape on the Abyffinian fhere; before you run:
into the Straits, is Cape Defan, called. by the Portuguefe;.
Gape Dafui.. This has no meaning in any language; the
Abyfflinians, on whofe fide it is, call it Cape Defan, the Cape’
ef Burial. It was probably there where the eaft wind drove;
afhore the bodies of fuch as had been fhipwrecked in the
voyage. The point of the fame coaft, which ftretches out
imto the Gulf, before you arrive at Babelmandeb, was, by
the Romans, called Promontorium Aromatum, and fince, by the
Portuguefe, Cape Gardefui. But the name given it by the
Abyflinians and failors on the Gulf is, Cape Gardefan, the:
Straits of Burial.

Sritz nearer the Straits is a {mali port in the kingdom
ef Adel; called Mere, i.e. Death,.or, he or they are dead. And:
more to the weitward, in the fame kingdom, is Mount Felix,.
corruptly fo called by the Portuguefe. The Latins call. it.
Elephas Mons, the Mountain or the Elephant; and the na--
tives, Jibbel Feel, which has the fame fignification:. The Por--
tuguefe, who did-not know that Jibbel Feel was Elephas.
Mons, being milled by the found, have called it Fibbel Felix,
the Happy Mountain, a name to which it has no fort of title..

Mets: 22 TRE

4A4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER i

Tne Straits by which we enter the Arabian Gulf are by
the Portuguefe called Babelmandeb, which is nonfenfe,
The name by which it goes among the natives is Babel-
mandeb, the Gate or Port of Affliction. And near it Ptolemy *
places a town he calls, in the Greek, Mandaeth, which ap-
pears to me to be only a corruption of Mandeb. The Pro-
montory that makes the fouth fide of the Straits, and the city
thereupon, is Dire, which means the Hades, or Hell, by Ptole-
my + called Ang». This, too, is a tranflation of the ancient
name, becaufe Anpn (or Dire) has no fignification in the Greek.
A clufter of iflands you meet in the canal, after paffing Mo-
cha, is called Jibbel Zekir, or, the Iflands of Prayer for the
remembrance of the dead. And ftill, in the fame courfe up
the Gulf, others are called Sebaat Gzier, Praife or Glory be
to God, as we may fuppofe, for the return from this danger-
ous navigation.

Aut the coaft to the eaftward, to where Gardefan ftretches
out into the ocean, is the territory of Saba, which imme-
morially has been the mart of frankincenfe, myrrh, and
balfam. Behind Saba, upon the Indian Ocean, is the Regio
Cinnamonifera, where a confiderable quantity of that wild cin-
namon grows, which the Italian druggifts call canella.

InLtanp near to Azab, as I have before obferved, are large
ruins, fome of them of {mall ftones and hme adhering ftrong-
ly together. There is efpecially an aquedut, which brought
formerly a large quantity of water from a fountain in the
Mountains, which muft have greatly contributed to the
beauty, -

* Pto'. Geog. lib. 4. cap.7. + id. ibid.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 445

beauty, health, and pleafure of Saba. This is built with
large mafly blocks of marble, brought from the neighbour-
ing mountains, placed upon one another without lime or
cement, but joined with thick cramps, or bars of brafs.
There are likewife a number of wells, not fix feet wide, com-
poied of pieces of marble hewn, to parts of a circle, and
joined with the fame bars of brafs alfo. This is exceedingly
furprifing, for Agatharcides * tells us, that the Alileans and
Caffandrins, in the fouthern parts. of Arabia, (juft oppofite to
Azab), had among them gold in fuch plenty, that they wou id

give double the weight of gold for iron, triple its weight

for brafs, and ten times its weight for filver; that, in dig-
ging the earth, they found pieces of gold as big as olive-
ftones, but others much larger.

Tuis feems to me extraordinary, if brafs was at fuch a
price in Arabia, that it could be here employed in the mean-
eft and moft common ufes. However this be, the inhabitants
of the Continent, and of the peninfula of Arabia oppofite to it,
of all denominations agree, that this was the royal feat of the
Queen of Saba, famous in ecclefiaftical hiftory for her journey
to Jerufalem; that thefe works belonged to her, and were
erected at the place of her refidence; that all the gold, filver,
and perfumes came from her kingdom of Sofala, which was
Ophir, and which reached from thence to Azab, upon the
borders of the Red Sea, along the coaft of the Indian Ocean.

Ir will very poflibly be thought, that this is the place in
which I fhould mention the journey that the Queen of Saba

maiade into Paieftine ; but as the dignity of the expedition it-

4 ' felf,

* Agath. p. 6o,

446 TTRAVEDS TO DI$6GOV ERT

felf, and the place it holds in Jewith antiquities, merits that:

it fhould be treated in a place by itfelf, fo the connection.

that it is fuppofed to have with the foundation of the mo-
narchy of Abyfiinia, the country whofe hiftory Iam going
to write, makes this particularly proper for the fake of con-
nection ; and I fhall, therefore, continue the hiftory of the

trade of the Arabian Gulf to a period in which I can re-.
fume the narrative of this expedition without occafioning:

any interruption to either..

cron @ HA Bs.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 4AF

peut Dah

Fludtuating State of the India Trade—Hurt by Military Expeditions of the
Perfians—Revives under the Ptolemies---Falls to Decay under the

; Romans. ea
HE profperous days, of the commerce with the Elanitic
Gulf feemed to be at this time nearly paft ; yet, after
the revolt of the ten tribes, Edom remaining to the houfe
‘of David, they full carried on a fort of trade from the Ela-
nitic Gulf, though attended with many difficulties. This
continued till the reign of Jehofaphat *.; but, on Jehoram’s
fucceeding that prince, the Edomites + evotted and chofe
a king of mata own, and were never after fubjeét to the
kings of Judah till the reign of Uzziah t, who conquered
Eloth, fortified it, and having peopled it with a colony of
his own, revived the old tratfiic. This fubfifted ull the reign
of Ahaz, when Rezin king of Damafcus took Eloth ||, and
expelled the Jews, planting in their ftead a colony of Syri-
ans.

1 Kings, chap. xxii. ver. 48. 2 Chron. chap. x. ver. 36. ‘f 2 Kings, chap. vili. ver. 22.
2 Chron. chap. xxi. ver. 10. t 2 Kings, chap. xiv. ver. 22. 2 Chrom. chap. 26. ver. ii.
{| 2. Kkings, chap. xvi. ver. 6.

448 . TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ans. But he did not long enjoy this good fortune, for the
year after, Rezin * was conquered by Tilgath-pilefer; and
one of the fruits of this victory was the taking of Eloth,.
which never after returned to the Jews, or was of any pro-
fit to Jerufalem.

THE repeated wars and conqueft to which the cities om
the Elanitic Gulf had been fubject, the extirpation of the:
Edomites, ali the great events that immediately followed:
one another, of courfe difturbed the ufual channel of trade-
by the Red Sea, whofe ports were now confequently become
unfafe by being in poffeffion of ftrangers, robbers, and fol-
diers; it changed, therefore, to a place nearer the center of
police and good government, than fortified and frontier
towns could be fuppofed to be.. The Indian and African
merchants, by convention, met in Affyria, as they had done
in Semiramis’s time; the one by the Perfian Gulf and Eu-
phrates, the other through Arabia. Affyria, therefore, be-
came the mart of tlie India trade in the Eatft..

Tue conquefts of Nabopollafér, and his fon Nebuchadnez-
zar, had brought a prodigious quantity of bullion, both.
filver and gold, to Babylon his capital. For he had plun-
dred’ Tyre t, and'robbed Solomon’s Temple { of. all the gold.
that had been brought from Ophir; and he had, befides, con
quered Egypt and laid it wafte, and cut off the communica-
tion. of trade in all thefe places, by almoft extirpating the

people..

*%

* 2 Kings, chap. xvi. ver. 6,
reEzek, chap. xxvi. vers 7. + 2 Kings, chap. xxiv ver: 13. and 2 Chron. ci XXXVii
ver. 7s

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 449

people. Immenfe riches flowed to him, therefore, on all
fides, and it was a circumftance particularly favourable to
merchants in that country, that it was governed by written
laws that fcreened their properties from any remarkable
violence or injutftice. .

Isuppose the phrafein {cripture, “ The law of the Medes
and Perfians, which altereth not*,’ muft mean only written.
laws, by which thofe countries were governed, without be-
ing left to the difcretion of the judge, as all the Eaft was,
and as it actually now is.

In this fituation the country was at the birth of Cyrus,
who, having taken Babylon + and {lain Belfhazzer{, became
matter of the whole trade andriches of the Eaft. Whatever
character writers give of this great Prince, his conduct, with
regard to the commerce of the country, fhews him to have
been a weak one: For, not content with the prodigious
profperity to which his dominions had arrived, by the mif-
fortune of other nations, and perhaps by the good faith
kept by his fubjects to merchants, enforced by thofe written
laws, he undertook the moft abfurd and difaftrous project
of molefting the traders themfelves, and invading India,
that all at once he might render himfelf mafter of their
riches. He executed this fcheme juft as abfurdly as he
formed it; fer, knowing that large caravans of merchants
came into Perfia and Affyria from India, through.the Aria-
na, (the defert coaft that runs all along the Indian Ocean to

Vot. I. 21 the

-

* Dan. chap. vi. ver. 8. and Efther, chap. i. ver. 19. + Ezra, chap. v.ver. 14
aad chap. vi. ver. 5. ~ Dap. chap. v. ver. 30.

450 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

the Perfian Gulf, almoft entirely deftitute of water, and very
nearly as much fo of provifions, both which caravans al-
ways carry with them), he attempted to enter India by the
very fame road. with a large army, the very fame way his.
predeceflor Semiramis had projected 1300 years before; and.
as her army had perifhed, fo did his to a man, without ha-
ing ever had it in his power to take one pepper-corn by;
force from. any part of India, |

Tue fame fortune attended his fon and fucceflor Cam-.
byfes, who, obferving the quantity of gold brought from E-
thiopia into Egypt, refolved to march, to the fource, and:
at once make himfelf mafter of thofe treafures by rapine,.
which he thought came too flowly through the medium.
of commerce.

_CamByses’s expedition into Africa 1s too well known for:
me to dwell upon it in this place.. It hath obtained.a céle-.
brity by the abfurdity of the project, by the enormous cruelty.
and havock that attended the courfe of ft, and by the great,
and very juft punifhment that clofed it in the end. It was.
one of. thofe many monflrous extravagancies which made up:
the life of the greateft madman that ever difgraced the annals,
of antiquity.. The bafeft mind:is perhaps the moft capable:
of avarice; and. when this paffion has taken poileffion of the:
human heart, it is ftrong enough to excite us to underta-.
kings as great as any of. hee dictated by the nobleft of our:
virtues.

CampByses, amidit the commiffion of the-moft horrid ex=
eeffes during the conqueit of Egypt, was informed that,
from the fouth of that couarry, there wasconftantly brought

a.quantity

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4s

a quantity of pure gold, independent of what came from

the top of the Arabic Gulf, which was now carried into
Affyria, and circulated in the trade of his country. This
fupply of gold belonged properly and exclufively to Egypt;

and a very lucrative, though not very extenfive commerce,
was, by its means, carried on with India. He found out
that the people, sist thefe treafures, were called Mac-
robii, which fignifies long livers; and that they poffeffed a coun-
try divided from him by lakes, mountains, and deferts. But
what ftill affected him moft was, that in his way were a mul-
titude of warlike Shepherds, with whom the Love ah is al-
ready sep da ma ee

Campysss, to flatter, and make peace with them, fell fu-
rioufly upon all the gods and temples in Egypt; he mur-
dered the facred ox, the apis, deftroyed Memphis, and all
the public buildings wherever he went. This was a grati-
fication to the Shepherds, being equally enemies to thofe
that worfhipped beafts, or lived in cities. After this intro-
duction, he concluded peace with them in the moft folemn
manner, each nation vowing eternal amity with the other.
Notwithftanding which, no fooner was he arrived at Thebes
(in Egypt) than he detached a large army to plunder the
Temple of Jupiter Ammon, the greateft object of the worfhip
of thefe Soipherds ; which army Atkieily perifhed without a
man remaining, covered, as I fuppofe, by the moving fands,
He then began his march againft the Macrobii, keeping clofe
to the Nile. The country there being too high to receive
any benefit from the inundation of the river, produced no
corn, fo that part of his army died for want of provifion.

3L2 | ANOTHER

452 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER:

ANOTHER detachment of his army proceeded to the coun:
try of the Shepherds, who, indeed, furnifhed him with
food; but, exafperated at the facrilege he had committed
-againft their god, they conduéted his troops through places
where they could procure no water. After fuffering all
this lofs, he was not yet arrived beyond 24°, the parallel of
Syené. From hence he difpatched ambafladors, or {pies, to
difcover the country before him, finding he could no longer
rely upon the Shepherds. Thefe found it full of black war-
like people, of great fize, and prodigious ftrength of body;
active, and continually exercifed in hunting the lion, the
elephant, and other monftrous beafts which live in thefe.
foretts..

Tue inhabitants fo abounded with gold, that the moit
~ common utenfils and inftruments were made of that metal,
whilft, at the fame time, they were utter ftrangers to bread
of any kind whatever; and, not only fo, but their country
was, by its nature, incapable of producing any fort of grain
from which bread could be made. They fubfifted upon
raw flefh alone, dried in the fun, efpecially that of the
rhinoceros, the elephant, and giraffa, which they had {lain
im hunting. On fuch food they have ever fince lived, and
live to this day, and on fuch food I myfelf have lived with
them; yet full it appears ftrange, that people confined to
this diet, without variety or change, fhould have it for their.
characteriftie that they were long livers.. |

THEY were not at all Sivan ca at the arrival of Cambyfes’'s
ambafladors. On the contrary, they treated them as an in-
ferior fpecies of men. Upon afking them about their diet,,

and:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 453

3
and hearing it was upon bread, they called it dung, I fup-
pofe as having the appearance of that bread which I have
feen the-miferable Agows, their neighbours, make from
feeds of baftard rye, which they colle& in their fields un-
der the burning rays of the fun. They laughed at Cam-
byfes’s requifition of fubmitting to him, and did not con-
ceal their contempt of his idea of bringing an army thi-
ther.

Tuey treated ironically his hopes of conqueft, even fuppo-
fing all difficulties of the defert overcome, and his army
ready to enter their country, and counfeled him to return
while he was well, at leaft for a time, till he fhould pro-
duce a man of his army that could bend the bow that they
then fent him; in which cafe, he might continue to ad-
vance, and have hope of conqueft.---The reafon of their re-
ference to the bow will be feen afterwards. I mention thefe
circumftances of the quantity of gold, the hunting of ele-
phants, their living upon the raw flefh, and, above all, the
circumftances of the bow, as things which I myfelf can
teftify to have met with among this very people. It is, in-
deed, highly fatisfactory in travelling, to be able to explain
truths which, from a want of knowledge of the country
alone, have been treated as falfehoods, and placed. to the
difcredit of hiftorians.

Tue Perfians were all famous archers; The mortifica-
tion, therefore, they experienced, by receiving the bow they
could not bend, was a very fenfible one, though the narra-
tive of the quantity of gold the meffengers had feen made
a, much greater impreflion upon Cambyfes. To procure

. this.

454 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

this treafure was, however, impracticable, as he had no
provifion, nor was there any in the way of his march. His
army, therefore, wafted daily by death and difperfion ; and
he had the mortification to be obliged to retreat into Egypt,
after part of his troops had been reduced to the wideU of
eating each other *.

Darius, king of Perfia, attempted to open this trade in
a much more worthy and liberal manner, as he fent fhips
down the river Indus into the ocean, whence they entered
the Red Sea. Itis probable, in this voyage, he acquired all
the knowledge neceflary for eftablifhing this trade in Per-
fia; for he mutt have paffed through the Perfian Gulf, and
along the whole eaftern coaft of Arabia; he muft have
feen the marts of perfumes and fpices that were at the
mouth of the Red Sea, and the manner of bartering for
gold and filver, as he was neceflarily in thofe trading
places which were upon the very fame coaft from which
the bullion was brought. I do not know, then, why M. de
Montefquieu + has treated this expedition of Darius fo con-
temptuoufly, as it appears to have been executed without
great trouble cr expence, and terminated without lofs or.
hardfhip ; the ftrongeft proof that it was-at firft wifely plan-
ed. The prince himfelf was famous -for his love of learn-
ing, which we find by his anxiety to be admitted among the
Magi, and the fenfe he had of that honour, in caufing it to
be engraved upon his tomb. |

THE

* Lucan lib. x. ver. 280. + Vide Montefg. liy. 21. chap 8-

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. a55

Tue expedition of Alexander into India was, of all events;.
chat which moft threatened the deftruction of the commerce
of the Continent, or the difperfing it into different channels
throughout the Eaft: Firft, by the deftruction of Tyre, which:
mutt have, for a time, annihilated the trade by the Arabian
Gulf; then by his march through Egypt into the country of
the Shepherds, and his intended further progrefs into Ethio
pia to the head of the Nile. If we may judge of what we hear
of him in that part of his expedition, we fhould be apt not to
believe, as others are fond of doing, that he had fchemes of
commerce mingled with thofe of conquefts.. His anxiety
about his own birth at the: Temple of Jupiter Ammon, this
firft queftion that he afked.of the prieft, “ Where the Nile
had its fource,” feemed to denote 2 mind bufied about other.
objects ; for elfe he was then in the very place for informa-.
tion, being in the temple of that horned god™*, the deity of
the Shepherds, the African carriers of the Indian produce ;
a temple which, though inthe midft of fand, and deftitute
of gold or filver, poffeffed more and better information con-.
cerning the trade of India and. Africa, than could be found
in any other place on the Continent. Yet we do not hear-
of one queftion being made, or one arrangement taken, re-
lative to opening the India trade with Thebes, or with Alex-
andria, which he built afterwards..

Arrer having;viewed the main ocean to the fouth, he
ordered Nearchus with. his fleet to coaft along the Periian-
Gulf, accompanied by part of the army on land for their
mutual affiftance, as there were a great many hardthips.

a which.

* Lucan, lib. 9. ver. 515;

256 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

which followed the march of the army by land, and much
difficulty and danger attended the fhipping as they were fail-
ing in unknown feas againft the monfoons. Nearchus himfelf
informed the king at Babylon of his fuccefsful voyage, who
gave him orders to continue it into the Red Sea, which he
happily accomplifhed to the bottom of the Arabian Gulf.

We are told it was his intention to carry on the India
trade by the Gulf of Perfia, for which reafon he broke
down all the cataraéts and dams which the Perfians had
built over the rivers communicating with the Euphrates. '
No ufe, however, feems to have been made of his knowledge
of Arabia and Ethiopia, which makes me imagine this ex-
pedition of Alexander’s fleet was not an idea of his own. It
is, indeed, faid, that when Alexander came into India, the
fouthern or Indian Ocean was perfectly unknown; but I
am rather inclined to believe from this circumftance, that
this voyage was made from fome memorials remaining
concerning the voyage of Darius. The fact and circum-
{tances of Darius’s voyage are come down to us, and, by
thefe very fame means, it muft be probable they reached
Alexander, who I do not believe ever intended to carry on
the India trade at Babylon. |

To render it impoflible, indeed, he could not have done
three things more effectual than he did, when he deftroyed
Tyre, and difperfed its inhabitants, perfecuted the Orites, or
land-carriers, in the Ariana, and built Alexandria upon the
Mediterranean ;. which laft ftep fixed the Indian trade in that.
city, and would have kept it there eternally, had the Cape
of Good Hope never been difcovered.

THE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 4457

Tue Ptolemies, the wifeft princes that ever fat upon the
throne of Egypt, applied with the utmoft care and attention
to cultivate the trade of India, to keep up perfect and friend-
ly underftanding with every country that fupplied any
branch of it, and, inftead of difturbing it either in Afia, Ara-
bia, or Ethiopia, as their predeceilors had done, they ufed
their utmoft efforts to encourage it in all quarters. —

_Prozemy I. .was then reigning in Alexandria, the foun-
dation of whofe greatnefs he not only laid, but lived to fee
it arrive at the greateft perfection. It was his conftant fay-
ing, that the true glory of a king was not in being rich
himfelf, but making his fubjects fo. He, therefore, opened
his ports to all trading nations, encouraged ftrangers of
every language, protected caravans, and a free navigation
by fea, by which, in a few years, he made Alexandria the
great ftore-houfe of merchandize, from India, Arabia, and
Ethiopia. He did ftill further to infure the duration of his
kingdom, at the fame time that he fhewed the utmoft dit
intereftednefs for the future happinefs of his: people. He
educated his fon, Ptolemy Philadelphus, with the utmoft
care, and the happy genius of that prince had anfwered
his father’s utmoft expectations ; and, when he arrived at the
age of governing, the father, worn out by the fatigue of
long wars, furrendered the kingdom to his. fon.

Protemy had been a foldier from his infancy, and con-
fequently kept up a proper military force, that made him
every where re{pected in thefe warlike and un({ettled times.

le had a fleet of two hundred fhips of war conftantly ready
in the port of Alexandria, the only part for which he had
apprehenfions. Al! behind him was wifely governed, whilft

Vo. I. 3M it

458 4 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER |

it enjoyed a moft flourifhing trade, to. the profperity of
which peace is neceflary. He died. in: peace and old age,.
after having merited the glorious name of Sofer, or Saviour
of the kingdom, which he himfelf had founded, the ereatett
part of which differed from. him in danguage, colour, habit, 4
and religion.

{r is with aftonifhment we fee how thoroughly he had)
eftablifhed the trade of India, Ethiopia, and Arabia, and what:
progrefs he had already made towards uniting it with that of
Europe, by a paflage in. Athenzus*, who mentions a feftivah.
and entertainment given by his fon, Ptclemy Philadelphus,
to the people of Alexandria at his acceflion, while his father-
was alive, but had juft given up his crown..

THERE was in this proceflion a great number of Indian:
women, befides of other countries ; and by Indians we may
underftand, not only the Afiatic Indians, but the Abyffini-.
ans, and the inhabitants of the higher part of Africa, as all:
thefe countries were comprehended under the common ap-.
pellation of Juda. Thefe were in the habit of flaves, and
each led, or was followed by, a camel loaded with incenfe
of Sheher, and cinnamon, befides other aromatics. After
thefe came a number of Ethiopian blacks carrying the teeth.
of 600 elephants. Another troop had a prodigious quanti-
ty of ebony ; and again others loaded with that fineft gold,
which is not dug from the mine, but wafhed from the
mountains by the tropical rains in {mall pieces, or pellets,.

which.

* Athen. lib. 53.

‘

THE SOURCE OF THENILE. 459

which the natives and traders at this day call Tibbar. Next
came a pack. of 24,000 Indian dogs, all Afiatics, from the
peninfula of India, followed by a prodigious number of fo-
reign animals, both beaits and birds, paroquets, and other
birds of Ethiopia, carried in cages ; 130 Ethiopian fheep, 300
Arabian, and 20 from the Ifle Nubia*; 26 Indian buffaloes,
white as fnow, and eight from Ethiopia; three brown bears,
and a white one, which laft muft have been from the north
of Europe; 14 leopards, 16 panthers, four lynxes, one garafe
fa, and a rhinoceros of Ethiopia.

Wuewn we reflect upon this prodigious mixture of ani-
mals, all fo eafily procured at one time, without preparation,
Wwe may imagine, that the quantity of merchandifes, for
common demand, which aepenapaened dl them, mutt have been
ain the proper proportion,

Tue current of trade ran towards Alexandria with the
greateft impetuofity, all the articles of luxury of the Eaft
were to be found there. Gold and filver, which were fent
formerly to Tyre, came now dewn to the Ifthmus (for Tyre
was no more) by a much fhorter carriage, thence to Mem-
phis, whence it was fent down the Nile to Alexandria. The
gold from the weft and fouth parts of the Continent reached
the fame port with much lefs time and rifk, as there was
now no Red Sea to pafs ; and here was found the merchan-
dite of Arabia and India in the greateft profution.

3M2 Te

* This is probably from Atbara, or the old name of the ifland cf Mero¢, which had received
that laft name only as late as Cambyfes.

460 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

To facilitate the communication with Arabia, Ptolemy
built a town on the coaft of the Red Sea, in the country of
the Shepherds, and called it Berenice*, after his mother. This

was intended as a place of neceffary refrefhment for all the
traders up and down the Gulf, whether of India or Ethio--
pia; hence the cargoes of merchants, who were afraid of ©

lofing the monfoons, or had loft them, were carried by the
inhabitants of the country, in three days, to the Nile, and
there embarked for Alexandria. To make the communi-
cation between the Nile and the Red Sea ftill more commodi-
ous, this prince tried an attempt (which had twice before
mifcarried with very great lofs) to bring a canal} from the
Red Sea to the Nile, which he actually accomplifhed, join-
ing it to the Pelufiac, or Eaftern branch of the Nile. Locks
and fluices moreover are mentioned as having been em-
ployed even in thofe early days by Ptolemy, but very trifling
ones could be needed, for the difference of level is there
but very fmall. }

Tuts noble canal, one hundred yards broad, was not of
' that ufe to trade which was expected ; merchants were weary
of the length of tume confumed in going to the very bot-
tom of the Gulf, and afterwards with this inland naviga-
tion of the canal, and that of the Nile, to Alexandria. It was
therefore much more expeditious to unload at Berenice,
and, after three days journey, fend their merchandife direct-
ly down to Alexandria. Thus the canal was difufed, the
goods pafled from Berenice to the Nile by land, and that
road continues open for the fame purpofe to this day.

Ir

* Plin, lib. 6. cap. 234 } Strabo, lib, 17. p. 932..

THE SOURCE OF THENILE 46%

Ir fhould appear, that Ptolemy had employed the veffels
of India and the Red Sea, to carry on his commerce with
the peninfula, and that the manner of trading directly to
India with his own fhips, was cither not known or forgot-
ten. He therefore fent two ambafladors, or meffengers,
Megafthenes and Denis, to obferve and report what was
the ftate of India fince the death of Alexander. Thefe two
performed their voyage fafely and fpeedily. The account
they gave of India, if it was ftrictly a true one, was, in all
refpects, perfectly calculated to animate people to the fur-
ther profecution of that trade. In the mean time, in order
to procure more convenience for veffels trading on the Red
Sea, he refolved to attempt the penetrating into that part of
Ethiopia which les on,that fea, and, as hiftorians imagine,
with an intention to plunder the inhabitants of their riches.

|

Ir muft not, however, be fuppofed, that Ptolemy was not
enough acquainted with the productions of a country fo near
to Egypt, as to know this part of ithad neither gold nor filver,
whilft it was full of forefts likewife; forit was that part of
Ethiopia called Barbaria, at this day Barabra, inhabited by
fhepherds wandering with their cattle about the neighbour-
ing mountains according as the rains fall. Another more pro-
bable conjecture was, that he wanted, by bringing about a
change of manners in thefe people, to make them ufeful to
him in a matter that was of the higheft importance. :

Proxemy, like his father, had a very powerful fleet and
army, he but was inferior to many of the princes, his rivals,
in elephants, of which great ufe was then made in war.
Fhefe Ethiopians were hunters, and killed them for their
fubhiftence. Ptolemy, however, wifhed to have them taken

4 alive,

462 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

alive, being numerous, and hoped both to furnifh himfelf,
and difpofe of them as an article of trade, to his Siena

Tuer is fomething indeed ridiculous in the manner in
which he executed this expedition. Aware of the difficulty
of fubfifting in that country, he chofe only a hundred Greek
horfemen, whom he covered with coats of monftrous
appearance and fize, which left nothing vifible but the
eyes of the rider. Their horfes too were difguifed by huge
trappings, which took from them all proportion and fhape.
In this manner they entered this part of Ethiopia, fpreading
terror every where by their appearance, to which their
ftrength and courage bore a ftri¢t proportion whenever
they came to action. But neither force nor intreaty
could gain any thing upon thefe Shepherds, or ever make
them change or forfake the food they had been fo long
accuftomed to; and all the fruit Ptolemy reaped from this
expedition, was to build a city, by the fea-fide, in the fouth-
eaft corner of ‘this country, which he called Ptolemais The-
ron, or Ptolemais in the country of wild beatts.

IT uave already obferved, but fhall again repeat it, that
the reafon why fhips, in going up and down the Red Sea,
kept always upon the Ethicpian fhore, and why the great-
eft number of cities were always built upon that fide is,
that water is much more abundant on the Ethiopian fide
than the Arabian, and it was therefore of the greateft con-
fequence to trade to have that coaft fully difcovered and
civilized. Indeed it is more than probable, that nothing fur-
ther was intended by the expedition of the hundred Greeks,
juft now mentioned, than to gain fufficient intelligence how
this might be done moft perfectly.

2 Pro-

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 463

Protemy Everceres, fon and fucceflor of Ptolemy Phila-
delphus, availed himfelf of this-difcovery. Having provid--
ed himfelf amply with neceflaries for bis army, and order-.
ed a fleet to coaft along befide him, up the Red Sea, he pe-
netrated quite through the country of the Shepherds into:
that of the Ethiopian Troglodytes, who are black. and wool-
ly-headed, and inhabit the low. country quite to the moun-
tains of Abyffinia. Nay *, he even afcended' thofe moun-
tains, forced the inhabitants to fubmiflion, built'a large:
temple at Axum, the capital of Sire, and raifed a great many
obelifks, feveral of which are ftanding to this day.. After-
wards proceeding to the fouth-eaft, he defcended into the
cinnamon and myrrh country, behind Cape Gardefan, (the
Cape that terminates the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean).
from this, croffed over to Arabia, to the Homerites, being.
the fame peopie with the Abyflinians, only on the Arabian:
fhore. Hethen conquered feveral of the Arabian princes,.
who firft refifted him, and had it in his-power to have put
an end to the trade of India there, had he not been as great
a.politician as he was a warrior. He ufed his victory, there--
fore, in no. other. manner, than to exhort and oblige thefe
princes to protect trade, encourage ftrangers, and, by every
means, provide for the furety of neutral intercourfe, by ma--
king rigorous.examples of robbers by fea and land.

Tue reigns of the latter Prolemies were calculated to:
bring this. commerce to.a decline, had. it not been for. two-
great events, the fall of Carthage, deftroyed. by Scipio, and.
that of Corinth, by the conful Mummius. The importance of |

tele: |

* Vion. Aduli,

\

464. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

thefe events to Alexandria feems to have fuftained the pro-
{perity of Egypt, even againft the ravages committed in the
war between Prolemy the VI. and VIJ. Alexandria was
then befieged, and not only deprived of its riches, but re-
duced to the utmoft want of necefflaries, and the horrid be-
haviour of Ptolemy VIL. (had it continued) would have foon
rendered that city defolate. The confequence of fuch a
conduct, however, made a {trong impreffion on the prince
himfelf, who, at once recalling his unjuft edicts, by which
he had banifhed all foreign merchants from Alexandria,
became ona fudden wholly addicted to commerce, the encou-
rager of arts and fciences, and the protector of ftrangers.

Tue impolitic conduct in the beginning of his reign,
however, had affected trade even in India. For the ftory
preferved by Pofidonius, and very improperly criticifed by
Strabo, feems to import little lefs. One day, the troops
pofted on the Arabian Gulf found a fhip abandoned to the
waves, on board of which was one Indian only, half dead
with hunger and thirft, whom they brought to the king.
This Indian declared he failed from his own country, and, ha-
ving loft his courfe and fpent all his pr ovifions, he was carried
to the place where he was found, without knowing where he
was, and after having furvived the reft of his companions :
he concluded an imperfect narrative, by offering to be a guide
to any perfon his majefty would fend to India. His propofals
were accordingly accepted, and Eudoxus was named by
the king to accompany’ him. Strabo * indeed laughs at

this

* Strabo, lib. ii. p. 98.

i =

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 465.

this ftory. However, we mutt lala he has not feized the
Bas ridiculous ata of at. : we :

oe are tol Id that the Mig orenads vs Indian to sts
taught Greek, and waited with patience till he had learn-.
ed that language. Surely, before any perfon could thus
inftruct him, the mafter muft have had fome language in
common with his {cholar, or he, had better have taught Eu-
doxus the Indian language, as it would have been as ea-
fy, and of much more ufe in the voyage he was to under-
take. Befides, is it poflible to believe, after the many years
the Egyptians traded backwards and forwards to India,
that there was not a manin Alexandria who could interpret
for him to the king, when fuch anumber of Egyptians went
every year to India to trade, and ftayed there for months
each time? Could Ptolemy Philadelphus, at his father’s fefti-:
val, find 600 Indian female flaves, all at once, in Alexandria;
and, after the trade had lafted fo much longer, were the
people from India decreafed, or would their language be lefs”
underftoed? The king’s wifdom, moreover, did not fhew
itfelf greatly, when he was going to truft a fhip with his
fubjects to fo ikilful a pilot as this Indian, who, in the firft
voyage, had loft himfelf and all his companions.

Inp1A, however, and the Indian feas, were as well known -
in Egypt as they are now; and the magnificence and fhew
which attended Eudoxus’s embafly feems to prove, that
whatever truth there is in the Indian being found, Eudoxus’
errand muft have been to remove the bad effects that the
king’s extortions and robberies, committed upon all ftrangers
in the beginning of his reign, had made upon the trading
mations. Eudoxus returned, but after the death of Ptole-

VoL. I 2N my,

466 TRAWELS TO DISCOVER |

my. The neceflity, however, of this voyage appeared ftill
great enough to make Cleopatra. his widow project a fe-
cond to. the fame place, and greater hed eden were. eae
than for the former one. —

Bur Eudoxus, trying experiments probably about the
courfes of the trade-winds, loft his paflage, and was thrown
upon the coaft of Ethiopia ; where, having landed, and made
himfelf agreeable to the natives, he brought home to Egypt:
a particular defcription of that country and its produce,
which furnifhed all the difcovery neceflary to inftruct the
Ptolemies in every thing that related to the ancient trade of
Arabia. In the courfe of the voyage, Eudoxus difcovered
the part of the prow of a veflel which had been broken off
by a ftorm. The figure of a horfe made it an object of in-
quiry ; and fome of the failors on board, who had been em-
ployed in European voyages, immediately knew this wreck’
to be part of one of thofe veffels ufed to trade cn the weftern.
ocean. Eudoxus * inftantly perceived all the importance of
the difcovery, which amounted to nothing lefs, than that
there was a paflage round. Africa from the Indian to the At-
lantic Ocean. Full of this thought, he returned to Egypt,
and, having fhewn the*prow of his vefiel to European fhip-
mafters, they all declared that this had been part of a vef-
fel which had belonged to Cadiz, in Spain.

Tuis difcovery, great as it was, was to none of more im —
portance than to Eudoxus; for, fome time after, falling”
under the en sehen of Prolemy Lathyrus, Vilith of —

name,

* Plin, Nat. Hilt, lib. 2.. cap. 6%.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 467

name, and being in danger of his life, he fled and embark-
ed on the Red Sea, failed round the peninfula of Africa,
crofied the Atlantic Ocean, and came rw to Cadiz.

Tue fpirit of inquiry, add cline off travelling, fica it~
felf inftantly through Egypt, upon this voyage of Eudoxus ;
and different travellers pufhed their difcoveries into the
heart of the country, where fome of the nations are report-
ed to have been fo ignorant as not to know the ufe of fire:
ignorance almoft incredible, had we not an iniftance of it in
our own times. It was in the reign of Ptolemy IX. that A-
gatharcides * drew up ‘his defcription of the Red Sea. —

Tue reigns of the other Ptolemies ending in the XIIlth of
that name, though full of great events, have nothing ma-
terial to our prefent fubject. Their conftant expence and
profufion muft have occafioned a great confumption of
trading articles, and very little elfe was wanting; or, if there
had, it muft have arrived at its height in the reign of the
celebrated Cleopatra; whofe magnificence, beauty, and great
talents, made her a wonder, greater than any in her capital.
In her time, all nations flocked, as well for curiofity as
trade, to Alexandria; Arabs, Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Jews,
and Medes; and all were received and protected by this
princefs, who {poke to each of them in his own languaget.

Tue difcovery. of Spain, and the pofleffion of the mines
of Attica from which they drew their filver, and the revo-
3N2 7 lution

* Dodwell’s Differiat. vol. 1. Scrip. Grec. Min. Id. Ox, 1698. 8yo.
% Plut. Vita. Aat.'p. 913. tom, 2. part 2. Lubec. 1624, fol.

468 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER: ~

lution that happenéd-in Egyptitfelf, feemed to have fupers
feded the communication with the coaft of Africa; for, in
Strabo’s time, few of the ports of the Indian’ Ocean, even
thofe neareft the Red Sea, were known. I fhould, indeed,,.
fuppofe, that the trade to India by Egypt décreafed from the
very time of the conqueft by Cefar. The mines the Romans
hadat| the fource of the river Betis*, in Spain, did not produce
them above L. 15,000 a-year; this was not a fufficient capital
for carrying on the trade toIndia, and. therefore the immenfe
riches of the Romans feem to'have been derived from the
greatnefs of the prices, not from the extent of the trade:

In fact f, we are told that 100 fer cents was a. profit in com-
mon trade upon the Indian commodities. Egypt now, and
all its: neighbourhood, began to wear a face of war, to
which it had been a ftranger for fo many ages.. The north
of Africa was in conftant troubles, after the firft ruin of
Carthage; fo that we may imagine the trade to India began
again, on. that fide, to be carried on pretty much in the
fame manner it had.’been before the days of Alexander:
But it had enlarged itfelf very much on the Perfian fide,
and found an eafy, fhort.inlet, into the north of Europe;

which then furnifhed them a market and condemmpeem of
{pices. | ni Eo

I must confefs, notwithftanding, if it is true what
Strabo fays he heard himfelf in Egypt, that the Romans em-.
ployed one hundred and twenty veffels.in the Indian tradet,
it muft at that time have loft very little of its vigour.. We
muft, however, imagine, that ahi part of this was for the’

: account,

* Strabo, lib, 3. + Phin, ilb.-vi. cap. 23.° t.Strabo, lib. 2. p. 81..

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 469

‘account, and with the funds of foreign merchants. The
Jews in Alexandria, until the reign of Ptolemy Phifcon, had
carried on a very extenfive part of the India trade. All
Syria was mercantile; and lead, iron, and copper, fupplied,
in fome manner, the deficiency of gold and filver, which
‘never again was in fuch abundance till after the difcovery
of America, foqw as

pk ond wo kebs:

Burt the ancient trade to India, by the Arabian Gulf and
Africa, carried on by the medium of thefe two metals,
_remained at home undiminifhed with the Ethiopians, de-
fended by large extenfive deferts, and happy with the en-
joyment of riches and fecurity, till a frefh difcovery again
introduced to them both partners. and mafters in their
trade.. a ; OF

One of the reafons that makes me imagine the Indian
trade was not flourifhing, or in great efteem; immediately
upon the Roman conqueft of Egypt, is, thar Auguftus, very
foon after, attempted to conquer Arabia. He fent Elius.
Gallus, with an army from Egypt into Arabia, who found
there a number of effeminate, timid people, fcarcely to be
driven to felf-defence by violence, and ignorant of every
thing that related to war. Elius, however, found that they
overmatched him in cunning, and the perfect knowledge
of the country, which. their conftant employment as carriers.
had taught them. His guides led him round from hard-
fhip to hardfhip, till his army almoft perifhed with hunger
and thirft, without feeing any of thofe riches his mafter had.
fent him to take poffeffion of.

oe eat THUS

A70 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tuus was the Arabian expedition of Auguftus conceived
with the fame views as thofe of Semiramis, Cyrus, and Gam-
byfes, defervedly as unhappy in its iffue as thefe firft had
been. 8

Tuat the African trade, moreover, was loft, appears from
Strabo*, and his reafoning upon the voyage of Eudoxus,
which he treats as a fable, But his reafoning proves juft the
contrary, and this voyage was one foundation for opening
this trade again, and making this coaft more perfectly
known. This likewife appears clear from Ptolemy +, who,
fpeaking of a promontory or cape oppofite to Madagafcar,
on the coaft of Africa, fays it was inhabited by anthropo-
phagi, or man-eaters, and that all beyond 8° fouth was un-
known, and that this cape extended to and joined the con- -
tinent of India tf.

Sy

* Strabo, lib, ii. p. 98. + Ptol, lib. iv. cap. 9. p. 115. $ Ptol. lib. vit. cap. 3.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 47t

CHAP. VI.

Queen of Saba vifits ¥erufalen—Abyffinian Tradition concerning Her---
Suppofed Founder of that Monarchy---Abyfinia embraces the Fewifb
Religion—Fewifh Ferarchy full retained by the Falafba---Some Con=
jeltures concerning their Copy of the Old Teftament..

T is now that I am to fulfil my promife to the reader, of

giving him fome account of the vifit made by the Queen
of Sheba*, as we erroneoutly call her, and the confequences.
of that vifit; the foundation of an Ethiopian monarchy, and
the continuation of the fceptre in the tribe of Judah, down.
to this day. If Iam obliged.to go back in point of time, it
is, that I may preferve both the account of the trade of the
Arabian Gulf, and ~~ this Jewith. 7s es difting and un-
broken..

We are not to wonder, if the prodigious hurry and flow
of bufinefs, and the immenfely valuable tranfactions they
had with: each other, had. greatly familiarifed the Tyrians:

and.

*t fhould properly be Saba, Azab, or Azaba, all fgnifying Soush.

472 -TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ©

and Jews, with their correfpondents the Cufhites and Shep-
herds on the coaft of Africa. This had gone fo far, as very
naturally to have created a defire in the queen of Azab, the
fovereign of that country, to go herfelf and fee the applica-
tion of fuch immenfe treafures that had been exported from
her country for a feries of years, and the prince who fo
magnificently employed them. There can be no doubt of
this expedition, as Pagan, Arab, Moor, Abyflinian, and all
the countries round, vouch it pretty much in the terms of
fcripture.

Many * have thought this queen was an Arab. But Saba

was a feparate ftate, and the Sabeans a diftinct people from
the Ethiopians and the Arabs, and have continued fo till |
very lately. We know, from hiftory, that it was a cuftom
among thefe Sabeans, to have women for their fovereigns
in preference to men, a cuftom which ftill fubfifts among

their defcendents. erriri eecbriip

— Medis levibufque Sabais, brat
Imperat Los fexus Reginarumque fubarmis, i |
Barbaria +, pars magna gacet. | CLAUDIAN.

Hzrr name, the Arabs fay, was Belkis; the Abyflinians,
Magueda. Our Saviour calls her Queen of the South, without
mentioning any other name, but gives his fanction to the
truth of the voyage. “ The Queen of the South (or Saba,

“ or

* Such as Juftin, Cyprian, Epiphanius, Cyril.
+ By this is meant the country between the tropic and mountains of Abyfiinia, the
country of Shepherds, from Berber, Shepherd. 3s “

x
‘

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 473

RR

or Azab) fhall rife up in the judgment with this genera-
© tion, and fhall condemn it; for fhe came from the utter-
“ moft parts of the earth to hear the wifdom of Solomon ;
“ and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here*.” No other
particulars, however, aré inentioned about her in fcripture ;
and it is not probable our Saviour would fay fhe came from
the uttermoft parts of the earth, if fhe had been an Arab,
and had near 50° of the Continent behind her. The gold,
the myrrh, caflia, and frankincenfe, were all the produce
of her own country; and the many reafons Pineda} gives
to fhew fhe was an Arab, more than convince me that fhe
was an Ethiopian or Cufhite fhepherd.

ra

A sfRonG objection to het being an Arab, is, that the
Sabean Arabs, or Homerites, the people that lived oppofite
to Azab on the Arabian fhore, had kings inflead of queens,
which latter the Shepherds had, and ftill have. Moreover,
the kings of the Homerites were never feen abroad, and
were ftoned to death if they appeared in public; fubjects of
this ftamp would not very readily fuffer their queen to go
to Jerufalem, even fuppofing they had a queen, which they
had not,

Wurruer the was a Jewefs or a Pagan is uncertain; Sa-
baifm was the religion of all the Eaft. It was the conftant
attendant and ftumbling-block of the Jews ; but confidering
the multitude of that people then trading from Jerufalem,
and the long time it continued, it is not improbable fhe was

Vor. I. 30 a Jewels.

* Matth, chap. xit. vers 42. Luke xi. 31.
+ Pin. de reb. Solomon, lib. iy, cap. 14th,—Jofephus thinks fhe was an Ethiopian, fo do Origen,

Axvguftin, and St Anfelmo.

474 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER |

a Jewefs. “ And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame’ .

“ of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, fhe came
“ to prove him with hard queftions*.” Our Saviour, more-
over, {peaks of her with praife, pointing her out as an ex-
ample to the Jews +. And, in her thankfgiving before So-
lomon, fhe alludes to Goa’s blefing on the fed of Ifrael for evert,,

which is by no means the language of a Pagan, but of a.

perfon {killed in the ancient hiftory of the Jews..

Sue lkewife appears to have been a perfon of learning,
and that fort of learning which was then almoft peculiar to
Paleftine, not to Ethiopia. For we fee that one of the rea-
fons of her coming, was to examine whether Solomon was.
really the learned man he was faid to be. She came to try
him in allegories, or parables, in which Nathan had in-.
ftructed Solomon..

Tue learning of the Eaft, and of the neighbouring kings:
that correfponded with each other, efpecially in Paleftine:
and Syria, confifted chiefly in thefe: “And Joath king of:
“ Ifrael fent to Amaziah king of Judah, faying, The thiftle:
“ that was in Lebanon fent to the Cedar that was in Leba-
“ non, faying, Give thy daughter to my fon to wife: and.
“ there pafled. by a wild beaft that was in Lebanon, and
“ trode down the thiftle.’—“ Thou fayeft, Lo, thou haft

© fmitten.

* 1 Kings, chap. x. ver 1. and 2 Chron. chap. ix. ver. 1.
+ Mate. chap. xii. ver. 43. and Luke; chap xi. ver. 31.
$ x Kings, chap. x. ver..9. and 2 Chron. chap. ix. yer 8,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 475

“ fmitten the Edomites, and thine heart lifteth thee up to
“ boaft: abide now at home, why fhouldeft thou meddle
“ to thine hurt, that thou fhouldeft fall, even thou, and Ju-
“ dah with thee *?”

Tue annals of Abyflinia, being very full upon this
point, have taken a middle opinion, and by no means an
improbable one. ‘They fay fhe was a Pagan when fhe left
Azab, but being full of admiration‘ at the fight of Solo-
mon’s works, fhe was converted to Judaifm in Jerufalem,
and bore him a fon, whom fhe called Menilek, and who was
their firft king. However ftrongly they affert this, and how-
ever dangerous it would be to doubt it in Abyffinia, I will not
here aver it for truth, nor much lefs ftill will I pofitively con-
tradi& it, as {cripture has faid nothing about it. I fuppofe,
whether true or not, in the circumftances fhe was, whilft
Solomon alfo, fo far from being very nice in his choice, was
particularly addicted to Idumeans f, and other ftrange wo-
men, he could not more naturally engage himfelf in any
ameur than in one with the queen of Saba, with whom
he had fo long entertained the moft lucrative conne¢tions,
and moft perfect friendfhip, and who, on her part, by fo
long a journey, had furely made fufficient advances.

Tue Abyffinians, both Jews and Chriftians, believe the:
xlvth pfalm to bea prophecy of this queen’s voyage to Jeru-
falem ; that fhe was attended by a daughter of Hiram’s from
Tyre to Jerufalem, and that the laft part contains a decla-

302 ration

* 2 Chron. chap. xxy. ver. 18. r9. + 1 Kings, chap. xis ver. Xe

476 “TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

ration of her having a fon by Solomon, who was to be King
over a nation of Gentiles.

To Saba, or Azab, diene fhe returned with her fon
Menilek, whom, after keeping him fome years, fhe fent
back to his father to be inftructed. Solomon did not
neglect his charge, and he was anointed and crowned.
king of Ethiopia, in the temple of Jerufalem, and at his in-
auguration took the name of David. After this he return-.
ed to Azab, and brought with him a colony of Jews, among
whom were many doctors of the law of Mofes, particularly
one of each tribe, to make judges in his kingdom,from whom.
the prefent Umbares (or Supreme Judges, three of whom
always attend the king) are faid and believed to be
defcended. With thefe came alfo Azarias, the fon of.
Zadok the prieft, and brought with him a Hebrew tranf.
eript of the law, which was delivered into his cuftody, as.
he bore the title of Nebrit, or High Prieft ; and this charge,
though the book itfelf was burnt with the church of Axum
in the Moorifh war of Adel, is ftill continued, as it is faid,
in the lineage of Azarias, who are Nebrits, or Keepers of.
the church of Axum, at this day. AII Abyflinia was there~
upon converted, and the government of the church and.
- ftate modelled according to what was then in ufe at Jerufa-.
tem.

By the. laft act of the queen of Saba’s reign, fhe fet-
tled the mode of fucceffion in her country for the furure..
Firft, fhe enacted, that the crown fhould be hereditary
in the -family of Solomon for ever. Secondly, that, af-
ter her, no woman fhould be capable of wearing that
erown or being queen, but that it fhould defcend.to the:

heir:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. A77

heir male, however diftant, in exclufion of all heirs female
whatever, however near; and that thefe two articles fhould
_ be confidered as the fundamental laws of the kingdom, ne-
ver to be altered or abolifhed. And, laftly, That the heirs.
male of the royal houfe, fhould always be fent prifoners toa
high mountain, where they were to continue till their death,
or till the fucceffion fhould open to them.

Wuar was the reafon of this laft regulation is not known,
it being peculiar to Abyflinia, but the cuftom of having wo-
men for fovereigns, which was a very old one, prevailed
among the neighbouring fhepherds in the laft century, as
_we fhall fee in the courfe of this hiftory, and, for what we
know, prevails to this day.. It obtained in Nubia till Auguf-
tus’s time, when Petreius, his heutenant in Egypt, fubdued
her country, and took the queen Candace prifoner. It en-
dured alfo after Tiberius, as we learn from St Philip’s bap-
tifing the eunuch*fervant of queen Candace, who mutt have
been fucceflor to the former; for fhe, when taken prifoner
by Petreius, is reprefented as an infirm woman, having but.
one eye}. Candace indeed was the name of all the fove-
reigns, in the fame manner Cefar was of the Roman emper-
ors. As for the laft fevere part, the punifhment of the princes,
it was probably intended to prevent fome diforders among
the princes of her houfe, that fhe had obferved frequently
to happen in the houfe of David {at Jerufalem.

The:

* A&s, chap. viii. ver. 27 and 38. _ + This fhews the falfehood of the remark
Strabo makes, that it was a cuftom in Meroé, if their fovereign was any way mutilated, for the
fabjeéts to imitate the imperfeétion. In this cafe, Candace’s fubjecis would have all loft an eye,

Suabo,.lib. 17. p- 7775 778.
t,2 Sam. chap. xvi. yer. 22. 1.Kings,.chap. ii, ver.13.-

478 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Tue gueen of Saba having made thefe laws irrevocable to
all her pofterity, died, after a long reign of forty years, in
986 before Chrift, placing her fon Menilek upon the throne, -
whofe pofterity, the annals of Abyflinia would teach us to
believe, have ever fince reigned. So far we muft indeed
bear witnefs to them, that this is no new doétrine, but has
been ftedfaftly and uniformly maintained from their earli-
eft account of time; firft, when Jews, then in later days after
they had embraced chriftianity.. We may further add, that |
the teftimony of all the neighbouring nations is with them
upon this fubject, whether they be friends or enemies. They
only differ in name of the queen, or in giving her two _
names.

Tuis difference, at fuch a diftance of time, fhould not
break fcores, efpecially as we fhall fee that the queens in
the prefent day have fometimes three or four names, and
all the kings three, whence has arifen a very great con-
fufion in their hiftory. And as for her being an Arab, the
objection is ftill eafier got over. For all the inhabitants of
Arabia Felix, efpecially thofe of the coaft oppofite to Saba,
were reputed Abyflins, and their country part of Abyflinia,
from the earlieft ages, tothe Mahometan conqueft and after.
They were her fubjects; firft, Sabean Pagans like herfelf,
then converted (as the tradition fays) to Judaifm, during the
time of the building of the temple, and continuing Jews
from that time to the year 622 after Chrift, when they
became Mahometans. ae

| Isuaxzi therefore now give a lift of their kings of the
race of Solomon, defcended from the queen of Saba, whofe
device is a lion paffant, proper upon a field gules, and their
; I motto,

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. A79

motto, “ Mo Anbafa am Nizilet Solomon am Negadé Fude ;” which

fignifies, ‘ the lion of the race of Solomon and tribe of Judah

hath overcome.’ The Portuguefe miffionaries, in place of

a lion paflant, which is really the king’s bearing, have given

him, in fome of their publications, a lion rampant, purpofe-

ly, as is f{uppofed, to put a crofs into the paw of this Jewith

lion; but he is now returned to the lion paflant, that he
was in the time of Solomon, without any fymbol either of
religion or peace in his paws..

480 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

LIST or rar KINGS or ABYSSINIA,

7?

FROM

MAQUEDA, QUEEN OF SABA, TO THE NATIVITY.

it j iv lie “a ‘eats al be mn ay Years,
Menilek, orDavidI. reigned 4 ||Katzina reigned, - - 9g
Hendedya, or Zagdur,..-. .1°| Wazehay> 4-ajneape
Aida: vlan = wad =. EX {Hazer,’ Wiese ite eae ae
ALLY, s5 (omy conte her ania ll SAS ail ll cr
Sawé,oie - ae =4ob feng | peolayanei. ye we
Gefaya, - - ~'). p05 Falayay ie ee
Katar,« = do. aie = - 15|Aglebu, - - = 3
Mouta, = igh 24 fy). = Wied Ad fema2 - os =i
Bahas, -~ - - = 9] Brus, - = - 29
Kawida, - - - 2 || Mohefa, - = copied
Kanaza, me i 10\| Bazcin) | ii eieah aee

MewniLeK fucceeded to the throne in the 986th year before
Chrift; and this number of years muit be exhautted in the
reign of thefe twenty-two kings, when each reign, in that
cafe, will amount to more than forty-four years, which is
impoflible. The reign of the twenty-one kings of Ifrael, at
a medium, is a little more than twenty-two years at an aver-
age, and that is thought abundantly high. And, even up-
on that footing of comparifon, there will be wanting a great
deal more than half the number of years between Menilek
and Bazen, fo that this account is apparently falfe. But
{ have another very material objection to it, as well as the

) Ne preceding

Sans ave ee

a ng ee ae

THE SOURCE OF THE NILY¥. 48a

preceding one, which is, that there is not one name in the
whole lift that has an Ethiopic root or derivation.

Tue reader will give what credit he pleafes+o this very
ancient lift. For my part, I content myfelf with difproving
nothing but what is impoffible, or contrary to the authority
of fcripture, or my own private knowledge. There are
other lifts fill, which I have feen, all of no better authority
than this. I fhall only obferve, upon this laft, that there is
a king in it, about nine years before our Saviour’s nativity,
that did me the honour of ufing my name two thoufand
years before it came into Britain, fpelled in the fame man-
~ ner that name anciently was, before folly, and the neve of

pectin wantonly corrupted it. |

Tire Greeks, to divert the king, had told him this circum-
ftance, and he was exceedingly entertained at it. Some
times, when he had feen either Michael, or Fafil *, or any of
the great ones do me any favour, or fpeak handfomely of
me, he would fay gravely, that he was to fummon the coun-
cilto inquire into my pedigree, whether I was defcended of
the heirs-male of that Brus who was king nine years before
the nativity; that I was likely to be a dangerous perfon,
and it was time I fhould be fent to Wechné, unlefs I chofe
to lofe my leg or arm, if I was found, by the judges, related to
him by the heirs-male, Yo which I anfwered, that how-
ever he made a jeft of this, one of my predeceffors was cer=—
tainly a king, though not of Abyilinia, not nine years be-
fore, but 1200 after our redemption ; that the arms of my

Vou. 1 on family

* What immediately follows will be hereafter explained in the Narrative.

482 “TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

family were a lion like his; but, however creditable his ma-
jetty’s apprehenfions as to Abyflinia might be to me, I could
venture to affure him, the only connections I had the honour
ever to have had with seit were — fii hema
eer Alt oe we ve hid ey A eae aT, i

Act other times, = I was exicdechieigy low-{pirited,
and defpairing of ever again fecing Britain, he, who well
knew the caufe, ufed to fay to the Serach Maflery, “Prepare
“ the Sendick and Nagareet ; let the judges be called, and
“ the houfehold troops appear under arms, for Brus is to be
“-buried : he is an Ozoro of the line of Solomon, and, for
“ any thing I know, may be heir to the crown. Bring like-
“ wife plenty of brandy, for they all get drunk at burials in.
“ his country.” Thefe were days of fun-fhine, when fuch
jefts paffed ; there were cloudy ones enough that followed,.
which much more than compenfated the ionws prongs
exjoymnest 3 thefe.. | Pea hire re
Auaanen the years laid down in the book of Axum do
not precifely agree with our account, yet they are fo near,
that we cannot doubt that the revolt of the ten tribes, and
deftruction of Rehoboam’s fleet which followed, occafioned
the removal of Menilek’s capital to Tigré*..' But, whatever
was the caufe, Menilek did remove his court from Azab to.
a place near Axum, at this day called Adega Daid, the Houfe
of David; and, at no great diftance, is another called’ dzabo,
from his ancient metropolis, where there are old remains

i eee TO a ae rot.

" * The temple which the Queen of Saba had feen built, and fo richly ornamented, was plun--
dered the sth year of Rehoboam, by Sefac, which is 13 years before Menilek died. So this.
could not but have difgufted him with the trade of his ancient habitation at Saba.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 483

_ of building of ftone and lime, a certain proof that Axum \
was: then fallen, elfe he would have naturally. gone thither
immediately upon forfaking his mother’s. Foil of Azab. -

Tuat country, onda by Cape Caintebaln, and fouth to-
wads Sofala, along:the Indian Ocean, was long governed by
an officer called Babarnaga/h, the meaning of which is, King
of the Sea, or Sea Goaft.. Another officer of the fame title
was. governor of Yemen, or Arabia Felix, which, from the
earlieft times, belonged to Aby{linia, down to the Mahome-
tan conqueft...'The. king himfelf was called Naga/b, or Na+
jathi, fo.were the governors of {everal provinces, efpecially _
Gojam; and great confufion has rifen from the’ multitude
of thefe kings. “We find, for example, fometimes three up-
on the throne at one time, which is exceedingly improbable
in-any country. We are; therefore, to fuppofe, that one of
thefe only is king, and two of them are the Najafhi, or Na-
gath, we have juft defcribed; for, as the regulation of the
queen of Saba banifhed the heirs-male to the mountain,
we cannot conceive how three brothers could be upon the
throne at the fame time, as this law fubfifts to the prefent
day. This, although i it is one, is not the only reafon of the
saeiiaiter as I thet mention another in the eee lie
od lies ‘we are abouts to nari ih our leave af ie jews: nelesion
and government in-the line of. Solomon, it is here the pros ,
per place that I fhould add what we have to fay of the Fas

lafha, of whom we have already had occafion to {peak,
when wei gave a fpecimen of their language, among thofe
of the firanger nations, whom we imagine to have come
originally from Paleftine. I did not fpare my utmoft pains
in inquiring into the hiftory of this curious people, and li«
3P 2 awed

484 TRAVELS TO. DISCOVER! 7

ved’ in friendihip with feveral efteemed the moft'knowing<
and learned among them, and 1 ip Nettie nite
knew, they told me: the truth. ay Seanok-ecde)lddapthosmet
(2.03; 2p.) 8 sees PLS 5
THE aecount they give of: Nenfbbves: which ana
only by tradition among then, is, that they. came with Mé
nilek from Jerufalem, fo that they agree perfectly withthe
Abyffinians im the ftory of the queen.of Saba, whoytheyfay}
‘was a. Jewefs, and her nation Jews before the: time-of Solo-
mon ; that-fhe lived at Saba, or Azaba; the myrrh and frank.
incenfe country. upon the -Arabian.Gulf - They fay furthen,
that fhe went to: Jerufalem, under protection of Hiram king
of Tyre, whofe daughter-is: faid» in the:xbyth! Pfalm ‘te.
have attended her thither; that fhe went not in fhips, nog
‘through Arabia, for fear-of the I{hmachites, but from Azab.
round by: Mafuah: and Suakem, and was efcorted) by the
‘Shepherds, her own fubjeéts, to Jernfalem, and: back again,
making ufe of her own country: vehicle, the camel, and:that
her’s was a white one, of prodigious fize and exquifite beaus
tye. . ae seh ror taithoaewtn elas see
Tuy agree alfo, im every particular, with the Abyfinians;_
about the remaining part of the ftory,the birth andinawguras
tion of Menilek, who was their firft king ;alfo the coming:
of Azarias, and ‘twelve elders from the twelve tribes,’ and o-.
ther doctors ofthe law, whofe pofterity they deny-to have ever
apoftatifed to Ghriftianity, as the Abyflinians pretend they

did. at the converfion. They fay, that, when the trade/of_

the Red Sea:fell into the hands of ftrangers, and all‘ com-
munication was fhut-up: between them and-Jerufalem, the.
cities were abandoned, and the inhabitants relinquifhed the
coatt.; that they. were the inhabitants..of thefe cities, by
trade:

'
EE

ie

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 485

trade moftly, brick and: tile-makers, potters, thatchers of
houfes, and fuch like mechanics, employed in them; and
finding’ the low country of Dembea afforded materials for
exercifing thefe trades, they carricd'the article of pottery
in that. ranges tovadegree es perfection doncely. to be
aii diaeen AscwAel oad), palin: ,

Benes very jiidafisions; chefi noon srs A exceed--
ingly, and were very. powerful: at the time of the converfion
to Chriftianity; or, as-they term it, the Apoftacy under Abre-
ha and Atzbeha. . At this time they: declared a prince of the
tribe of Judah, and ofthe race of Solomon and.Menilek, to
be their fovereign: The name of this prince was. Phineas,
who refufed to abandon the religion of his forefathers, and
from him their fovereigns are lineally defcended ;‘fo they
have fill a prince of the houfe-of Judah, although the~A-
byflinians, by way of reproach, have called this family Bet
‘Hrael, intimating that they were rebels, and-revoltedé from
the family.of Solomon.and. tribe: of Judah, and there is lit:
tle doubt, but that fome of the fueceffors of Azarias adhes
red to their ancient faith alfo. Although there was no.
bloodfhed upon difference of religion; yer, each having a-
_diftiné: king with the fame pretenfions, many battles were
fought from. mot.ves of ambition, and. cas of fovereign |
ian , meter?

sehnorci the ee ran rep was: ened by ae pith |
$e mount the throne of Abyflinia, as we fhall fee hereaften,
‘when .the princes of the howfe of Solomom were-nearly ex-
tirpated upon the-rock: Damo. . This, it is probabie, produ
ced-more animofity and blcodfhed. At.laft,the power of the -
Falafha was fo much weakened, that, they..were,obliged.to «
leawe::

486 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER’

leave the flat country of Dembea, having no cavalry to
maintain themfelves there, and to take poffeffion of the rugs
ged, and almoft inacceflible rocks, in that high ridge called
the Mountains of Samen. One of thefe, which nature feems
to have formed for a fortrefs, they chofe for their metropo-
lis, and it was ever after called the Jews Rock. «)) 4%

_A GREAT overthrow, which they received in the year 1600,
brought them to the very brink of ruin. In that battle Gi«
deon and Judith, their king and queen, were flain. They
have fince adopted a more peaceable and. dutiful behaviour,
pay taxes, and are fuffered. to enjoy their own govern:
ment. Their king and queen’s name was again Gideon
and Judith, when I was in Abyflinia, and thefe names feem
to be preferred for thofe of the Royal family. At that time
they were fuppofed to amount to 100,000 effective men.
Something like this, the fober and moft knowing Abyf-
finians are obliged to allow to be truth; but the circum-
ftances of the converfion from dvisinaton are raaiaiele not ald
before us. Were |

Tue only copy of the Old Teftament, which they have,
is in Geez, the fame made ufe of by the Abyflinian Chrifs
tians, who are the only fcribes, and fell thefe copies. to
the Jews; and, it is very fingular that no controverfy, or dif-
pute about the text, has ever yet arifen between the profef-
fors of the two religions. They have no keriketib, or vari-
ous readings; they never heard of talmud, targum, or cabalax
Neither have they any /ringes* or ribband upon their garments,
nor is there, as far as I could learn, one fcribe among them.

Biihih wey I ASKED

- ~>

; ™ Numb. chap. xv. ver. 38, 39. Deut. chap. 22. vers 12s

THE SOURGE OF THE NILE. 487

©) Pasxep them, being from Judea, whence they got that
fanguage which they fpoke, whether it was one of the lan-
guages of the nations which they had learned on the coaft
of the Red Sea. They apprehended, but it was mere con-
jecture, that the language which they fpoke was that of
thofe nations they had found on the Red Sea, ‘after. their
Teaving Judea and fettling there ; and the reafon they gave
was certainly a pertinent one; that they came into Abyf-
finia, {peaking Hebrew, with the advantage of having books.
in that language; but they had now forgot their Hebrew*,
and it was therefore not probable they fhould retain any
other language in which they had no books, and aidan
perk never had lear ned: to exprefs by letters. )

I ASKED — fince they came from we bleanber how it.
happened they had not Hebrew, or Samaritan copies of the
law, at leaft the Pentateuch orOtateuch. They faid they were
in poffeffion of both when they came from Jerufalem; but
their fleet being deftroyed, in the reign of Rehoboam, and
communication becoming very uncertain by the Syrian wars,,
they were, from neceffity, obliged to have the {criptures
tranflated, or make ufe of the copies in the hands of the
Shepherds, who, according to them, before iclighine S ‘ume,
were all Jews... | ) “

ine ae where the Shepherds got their copy, be-
eaufe, notwithftanding the invafion of Egypt by Nebuchad-
bporisieling vin was the foreign obftacle the longeft in their
way,

* We fee this oe eae to them in a much fhorter time. during. the cape, when Ce y.
- forgot their Hebrew, and fpoke Chaldaec ever after:

488 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

pay, the Ifhmaelite Arabs had: accefs through Arabia ‘to
Jerufalem and Syria, and carried on.a great trade thither
‘by land. They profeffed very candidly they could not give
a fatisfactory anfwer to that, as the time was very diftant,
and war had deftroyed all the memorials of thefe tranfac-
‘tions. I afked if they really ever had any memorials of
their own country, or hiftory of anv other. They anfwer-
ed, with fome hefitation, they had no reafon to fay they e-
wer had any; if they had, they were all deftroyed in the
war with Gragné. This-is all that I could ever learn from
this people, and it required great patience and prudence in
making the interrogations, and feparating truth from falfe-
hood ; for many of them, (as 1s invariably the cafe with
barbarians) if they once divine the reafon of your inquiry,
awill fay whatever they think will pleafe you.

‘Tury deny the fceptre has ever departed from Judah, as
they have a prince of that houfe reigning, and underftand -
the prophecy of the gathering of the Gentiles at the coming
of Shiloh, isto be fulfilled on the appearance of the Mefliah,
whois not yet come, when all the inhabitants of the world
are to be Jews. But I muft confefs they did not give.an ex-
planation of this either clearly or readily, or feem to have
ever confidered it before. They were not at all heated by
the fubject, nor interefted, as far as I could difcern, in the
aifference between us, nor fond of talking upon their reli-
gion at all, though very ready at all quotations, when a
petfon avas prefent who {poke Amharic, with the barbarous
accent that they do; and this makes me conceive that their
anceftors were not in Paleftine, or prefent in thofe difputes

or tranfactions that attended the death of our Saviour, and
have fubfifted ever after. They pretend that the book of
2 Enoch

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 489

Enoch’ was the firft book of fcripture they ever received.
They knew nothing of that of Seth, but place Job immedi-
ately after Enoch, fo that they have no idea of the time in
which Job lived, but faid they believed it to be foon after
the flood; and they look upon the book ia aa his name
to be the performance = that prophet.

Many dithautiies occur — this account of the Falafha ;
for, though they fay they came from Jerufalem in the time
of Solomon, and from different tribes, yet there is but one
language amongtft them all, and that is not Hebrew or Sa-
maritan, neither of which they read or underftand ; nor is
their anfwer to this objection fatisfactory, for oe obvious
reafons.

Lupotr, the moft learned man that has writ upon the
fubject, fays, that it is apparent the Ethiopic Old Teftament,
at leaft the Pentateuch, was copied from the Septuagint,
becaufe of the many Grecifms to be found in it; and the
names of birds and precious ftones, and fome other pafla-
ges that appear literally to be tranflated from the Greek.
He imagines alfo, that the prefent Abyflinian verfion is the
work of Frumentius their firft bifhop, when Abyffinia was
converted to Chriftianity under Abreha and Atzbeha, about
the year 333 after Chrift, or a few years later.

AttTuoucu I brought with me all the Abyffinian books of
the Old Teftament, (if it is a’ tranflation) I have not yet had
time to make the comparifon here alluded to, but have left
them, for the curiofity of the public, depofited in the Britifh
Mufeum, hoping that fome man of learning or curiofity
would do this forme. In the mean time I muft obferve,

Vou. gm. that

490 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

that itis much more natural to fuppofe that the Greeks,
comparing the copies together, expunged the words or
paflages they found differing frem the Septuagint, and re-
placed them from thence,'as this would not offend the
Jews, who.very well knew: that, thofe who tranflated the
Septuagint verfion were all Jews themfelves.

.Now, as the Abyflinian copy of sig Holy: Scriptures, in:
Mr Ludolf’s opinion, was trandflated by Frumentius above:
330 after Chrift, and the Septuagint verfion,.in the days: of
Philadelphus, or Ptolemy II. above 160 years before Chritt,
it will follow, that, if the prefent Jews. ufe the copy tranfla-.
ted by Frumentius, and, if that was taken: from the Septua-
pint, the Jews muift have been above 400 years without any:
books whatfoever at the time of the converfion by Frumen-
tius: So they must have had all the Jewifh law, which is.
in perfec: vigour and force among them, all their Levitical
obfervances, . their purifications,. atonements, abftinences,,
and facrifices, all depending upon their memory, without:
writing, at leaft for that long fpace- of acer cian

THIS, erie not shilchane ly iopiesGib les is furely very:
nearly fo. We know, that, at Jerufalem itfelf, the feat of |
Jewiih law and: learning, idolatry happening to prevail, du-:
ring the fhort reigns of only four kings, the law, in that in-:
eal became fo perfectly forgotten and unknown, that a
eopy of it being accidentally fownd and: read by Jotiah,,
that prince, upon his firft learning its contents, was. fo a-’
ftonifhed; at the deviations, from; it, that he asiprabceilit
the immediate deftruction of the whole city and people: To:
this I fhall only add, that whoever.confiders the {liff-necked-
nefs, ftubbornnefs, and obftinacy, which were ever the cha-

L racters.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE Agt

racters of this Jewifh nation, they will not eafily believe that
they did ever willingly “receive the O/d Teftament from a
“ people who were the avowed champions of the New.”

_. Tuy have, indeed, no knowledge of the New Teftament
but from converfation ; and do not curfe it, but treat it as
a folly where it fuppofes the Meffiah come, who, they feem
to think, is to be a temporal prince, prophet, prieft, and con-
queror. |

.. Srizz, it is not probable that a Jew would receive the
law and the prophets from a Chriftian, without abfolute ne-
ceffity, though they might very well receivefuch a copy from
a brother Jew, which all the Abyfiinians were, when this
<ranflation was made. Nor would this, as I fay, hinder them
from following a copy really made by Jews from the text
itfelf, fuch as the Septuagint actually was. But, I confefs,
great difficulties occur on every fide, and I defpair of having
them folved, unlefs by an able, deliberate analyfis‘ of the
fpecimen of the Falafha language which I have preferved,
in which I earneftly requeft the concurrence of the learned.
A book of the length of the Canticles contains words
enough to judge upon the queftion, Whence the Falafha
came, and what is the probable caufe they had nota tranfla-
tion in their own tongue, fince a verfion became neceflary?

IT uave lefs doubt that Frumentius tranflated the New
Teftament, as he muft have had afliftance from thofe of his
own communion in Egypt; and this is a further reafon
why I believe that, at his coming, he found the Old Tefta-
ment already tranfiated into the Ethiopic language and cha-
racter, becaufe Bagla, or Geez, was an unknown Ietter, and

3 Q2 the

ical, TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ©

the language unknown, not only to him, but likewife to
every province in Abyflinia, except Tigré; fo that it would
have coft him no more: pains to teach the nation the Greek

character and Greek language, than to have tranflated the:

New Teftament into Ethiopic, ufing the Geez character,
which was equally unknown, unlefs in Tigré. The faving

of time and labour would have been very material to him

he would have ufed the whole fcriptures, as received in his
own church, and the Greek letter and language would have

been juft as eafily attained in Amhara as the Geez; and:
thofe people; even of the province of Tigré, that had: not:

yet learned to read, would have written the Greek charac
ter as eafily as their own. I donot know that fo early there
was any Arabic tranflation of the Old Teftament ;:if there
was, the fame reafons would have militated for his preferring
this ; and. ftill he had: but the New-Teftament to undertake.
But having tound: the books of the Old Teftament already
tranflated intc Geez, this altered the cafe ;-and he, very pro-
perly, continued the gofpel in that language and letter al-
fo, that it might be a.teftimony for the Chriftians, and againft
the Jews, as it was intended...

G H AP.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 493

CHAP. VIE

Books in 2 Up i in Abyffinia——Enoch—Abyffinia not converted by the <7
Jiles-—Converfion from Fudaifm to Chriftianity.by Frumentius.

HE Abyflinians have the whole fcriptures entire as we
have; and count the fame number of books; but
they divide them in another manner, at leaft in private
hands, few of them, from extreme poverty, being able to pur-
shafe the whole, either of the hiftorical or prophetical books
of the Old Teftament.. The fame may be faid of the New,
for copies containing the whole of it are very fcarce. In-
deed no where, unlefs in churches,. do you fee more. than
the Gofpels, or the Aéts of the Apoftles, in one perfon’s pof:
feffion, and.it muft. not be an ordinary man that poffefies-
even thefe.. rat

Many books ofthe Old Teftament are forgot, fo that itis
the fame trouble to procure them, even in churches, for the
purpofe of copying,.as to confult old records long covered
with duft and rubbifh. The Revelation of St John isa piece of
favourite reading among them. Its title is, the Vifion of Fobn A-
bou Kalomfs, which feems to me to be a corruption of Afoca-

Lipp,

4.94 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER™
hpfs. At the fame time, we can hardly imagine that
Frumentius, a Greek and a man of letters, fhould make fo
ftrange a miftake. There is no fuch thing as diftinétions
between canonical and apocryphal books. Bell and the
Dragon, and the Acts of the-Apoftles, are read with equal
devotion, and, for the moft part, Tam afraid, with equal
edification ; and it is in the fpirit of truth, and not of ridi-
cule, that I fay St George and his Dragon, from idle legends
only, are objects of veneration, nearly as great as any of
the heroes in the Old Teftamenz, or faints in the New. The
Song of Solomon is a favourite piece of reading among the
old priefts, but forbidden to the young ones, to the deacons,
laymen,and women. The Abydiinians believe, that this fon ¢
was made by Solomon in praife of Pharaoh’s daughter; and
do not think, as fome of our divines are difpofed to do, that
there is in it any myftery_or allegory refpeéting Chrift and
the church. . It may. be afked, Why did I choofe to have this
book tranflated, feeing. that it was to be attended with this
particular difficuity? To this I anfwer, The choice was not
mine, nor did I at once’ know all the difficulty. The firft
I pitched upon was the book of Ruth, as being the fhorteft;
but the fubject did not pleafe the fcribes and priefts who
were to copy forme, and I found it would not do, They
then chofe the Song of Solomon, and engaged to ‘go through
with it; and I recommended it to two or three young feribes,
who completed the copy by themfelves and their friends.

I was obliged to procure licence for thefe {cribes whom I
employed in tranflating it into the different languages; but
it was.a permiffion of courfe, and mict i no real » though
fome pretended difficulty.

A NEPHEW

THE SOURCE OF TEE NILE. 495

A NEPHEW of Abba Salama‘, the Acab Saat, a young man
of no common genius, afked beave from his uncle before he
began: the tranflation ; to which Salama anfwered, alludin g
to an old law, That, if he attempted fuch.a thing, he fhould
be killed as:they do fheep ; but; if Lwould give dim the mo-
ney, he would permit ite) I fhould not have taken any no-
tice of this; but fome of the young men having told: it to
Ras Michael}, who perfectly guefled. the! matter, he called
upon the fcribe, and afked what his uncle had faid to him,
who toid: him very plainly, that,if he began the tranflation,
his throat fhould. be cut hke that of a fheep.. One day Mi-
chael afked Abba Salama, whether that was true ; he anfwer-
ed in the affirmative, and feemed difpofed to be talkative.
“ Then,” faid the Ras to the young man, “your uncle de-
“ clares, if you write the book for Yagoube, he fhall cut
“ your throat like a fheep; and:I fay to you, I fwear by St
“ Michael, will put you to death like an afs if you don’t
“ write it; confider with yourfelf which of the rifks you'll
“ run, and come tome imeight days, and make your choice.”
But, before the eighth day; he brought me the book, very
well pleafed at having an excufe for receiving the price of the
copy. Abba Salama complained of this at another time when
I was prefent, and the name of /rank was invidicufly men-
tioned; but he only got a ftern look and word from the Ras:
“ Hold your tongue, Sir, you don’t know what you fay ; you
“ don’t know that you are a fool, Sir, but Ido; if you'talk
“ much you will publith it-to all the world.”

AFTER’

* T fhall have: occafion to {peak much of this-prieft inthe fequel. He was a moft inveterate
and dangerous enemy to all Europeans; the principal ecclefiaftical officer in the king’s houfe.,

+ Then Prime Minifter, concerning. whom much is to be faid hereafter. .

496 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Arter the New Teftament they place the conftitutions
ef the Apoftles, which they call Syxnodos, which; as far: as
the cafes or doctrines apply, we may fay is the-written law
of the country. Thefe were tranflated out .of the Arabic.
They have next a general liturgy, or book of common pray-
er, befides feveral others peculiar to certain feftivals; under
whofe names they go. The next is avery large volumi-
nous book, called Aaimanout Abou, chiefly a collection from
the works of different Greek fathers, treating of, or explain-
ing feveral herefies, or difputed points_of faith, in the an-
cient Greek Church. .Tranflations of the works of St Atha-
nafius, St Bazil, St John Chryfoftome, and St Cyril, are
likewife current among them. The two laft I never faw;
and only fragments of St Athanafius ; but they are certain-
ly extant. PEW wk

Tue next is the Synaxar, or the Flos Sanctorum, in which
the miracles and lives, or lies of their faints, are at large re-
corded, in four monftrous volumes in folio, ftuffed full of
fables of the moft incredible kind. They have a faint that
wreftled with the devil in fhape of a ferpent nine miles long,
threw him from a mountain, and killed him. Another
faint who converted the devil, who turned monk, and lived
in great holinefs for forty years after his converfion, doing
penance for having tempted our Saviour upon the moun-
tain: what became of him after they do not fay. Again,
another faint, that never ate nor drank from his mother’s
womb, went to Jerufalem, and faid mafs every day at the
holy fepulchre, and came home at night in the fhape of a.
ftork. The laft I {hall mention was a faint, who, being ve-
ry fick, and his ftomach in diforder, took a longing for par-
tridges ; he called upon a brace of them to come to him,

3 and

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 497

and immediately two roafted partridges came fying, and reft-
ed upon his plate, to be devoured.. Thefe ftories are cir-
cumftantially told and vouched by unexceptionable people,
and were a grievous ftumbling-block to the Jefuits, who
could not pretend their own miracles were either better e-
ftablifhed, or more worthy of belief. |

THERE are other books of lefs fize and confequence,. par-
ticularly the Organon Denghel, or the Virgin Mary’s Mufi-
cal Inftrument, compofed by Abba George about the year
1440, much valued for the purity of its language, though
he himfelf was an Armenian. The laft of this Ethiopic li-
brary is the book of Enoch*. Upon hearing this book firft
mentioned, many literati in Europe hada wonderful defire
to fee it, thinking that, no- doubt, many fecrets and un-
_ known hiftories might be drawn from it. Upon this fome
impoftor, getting an Ethiopic book into his hands, wrote
for the title, The Prophecies of Enoch, upon the front page of it.
M. Pierife + no fooner heard of it than he purchafed it of
the impoftor for a confiderable fum of money: being
placed afterwards in Cardinal Mazarine’s library, where Mr
Ludolf had accefs to it, he found it was a Gnoftic book up-
on myfteries in heaven and earth, but which mentioned
not a word of Enoch, or his prophecy, from beginning to
end; and, from this difappointment, he takes upon him to
deny the exiftence of any fuch book any where elfe. ‘This,
however, is a miftake ; for, as a public return for the ma-
ny obligations I had received from every rank of that moft

Vot. 1 DO AE ge humane,

* Vid. Origen contra Celfum, lib. 5. Tertull. de Idolol.c. 4. Drus in fuo Enoch.
Bangius in Coelo Orientis Exercit. 1. queft. 5. and 6.
+ -Gaflend in vita Pierifc, lib. ¢.

498 “TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

humane, polite, and fcientific nation, and more efpecially:
from. the fovereign Louis XV. I gave to his cabinet a: part:
of every thing curious I had: colleted:abroad ; which was
received with that degree of confideration’ and attention
that cannot fail to determine every traveller of a: liberal.
mind to follow. my example.

Amoncsr the articles I configned'to the library at Paris,
was a very beautiful and magnificent, copy of.the prophe-
eies of Enoch, in large quarto; another is amongft the books
of fcripture which I braught home, {tanding immediately
before the book of Job; which.is its proper place in the A-.
byffinian canon; anda third:copy. I have prefented to the Bod-
leian library at Oxford,,by the hands of Dr Douglas the Bi-.
fhop of Carlifle. The more ancient hiftory of that book is
well known. Thechurch at firft looked-upon it as apocry-
phal; and as it was quoted in the book of Jude, the fame
_fufpicion fell. upon that book alfo.. For this reafon, the
council of Nice threw the epiftle of Jude out of the canon,,
but the council of Trent. arguing better, replaced the apo-.
tle in the canon as before..

Here we may obferve by the way, that Jude’s appealing
to the apocryphal books did by no means import, that either
he believed or warranted the truth of them. But it was an ar-.
gument, a fortiori, which our Saviour himfelf often makes
ufe of, and amounts to no more than this, You, fays he to
the Jews, deny certain facts, which mutt. be from. prejudice,,
becaufe you have them allowed.in your own books, and be-.
lieve them there. And avery ftrong and fair way. of. argu-.
ing it is, but this is by no means any allowance that they
are truc. In the fame manner, You, fays. Jude, do not. be-.

pe it heve

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. A905

dieve the coming of Chrift and a latter judgment; yet your
ancient Enoch, whom you fuppofe was the feventh from A-
dam, tells you this plainly, and info many words, long ago.
And indeed the quotation is, word for word the fame, in
the fecond chapter of the book.

sme that is material to fay further concerning the book
of Enoch is, that it is a Gnoftic book, containing the age
of the Emims, Anakims, and Esregores, fuppofed defcen-
dents of the fons of God, when they fell in love with the
daughters of men, and had fons who were giants, Thefe
giants do not feem to have been fo charitable to the fons
and daughters of men, as their fathers had been. For, firft,
they began to eat all the beafts of the earth, they then fell
upon the birds and fifhes, and ate them alfo; their hunger
being not yet fatisfied, they ate all the corn, all men’s la-
bour, all the trees and buthes, and, not content yet, they fell
to eating the men themfelves. The men (like our modern
failors with the favages) were not afraid of dying, but very
much fo of being eaten after death. At length they cry toGod
againft the wrongs the giants had done them, and God fends
a flood which drowns both them and the giants.

Sucw is the reparation which this ingenious author has
‘thought proper to attribute to Providence, in anfwer to the »
firft, and the beft-founded complaints that were made to
him by man. I think this exhaufts about four or five of
the firfi chapters. Itis not the fourth part of the book; but —
my curiofity led me no further. The cataftrophe of the
giants, and the juftice of the cataftrophe, had fully fatisfied
me,

Ra I cANNOT

500 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

I cannot but recolleé, that when it was known in Eng-
land that I had prefented this book to the library of the King
of France, without ftaying a few days, to give me'time to reach
London, when our learned countrymen might have had an
opportunity of perufing at leifure another copy of this book,
Doctor Woide fet out for Paris, with letters from the Secre-
tary of State to Lord Stormont, Ambaflador at that court, defi-
ring him to affift the doctor in procuring accefs to my pre=
fent, by permiffion from his Moft Chriftian Majefty. This
he accordingly obtained, and a tranflation of the work was
brought over; but, I know not why, it has no where ap-
peared. I fatty Dr Woide was not —— more saat —
the conduct of the Diabs than I was..

T suati conclude with ond partedtirs which is a curious:
one: The Synaxar (what the Catholics call their Flos Sanc-
torum, or the lives and miracles of their faints), giving the
hiftory of the Abyffinian converfion to Chriftianity in the
year 333, fays, that when Frumentius and Cidefius were in-
troduced to the king, who was a minor, they found him.
reading the Pfalms of David..

Tus book, or that of Enoch, does By no means prove
that they were at that time Jews. For thefe two were in as:
great authority among the Pagans, who profeffed: Sabaifm,
che firft religion of the Eaft, and efpecially of the Shepherds,
as among the Jews. Thefe being continued alfo in the
fame letter and character among the Abyflinians from the
beginning, convinces. me that there has not been any other
writing in this country, or the fouth of Arabia, fince that
which rofe from the Hieroglyphics. |

4 | THR

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 503

TueE Abyflinian hiftory begins now to rid itfelf of part of
that confufion which is almoft a conftant. attendant upon
the very few annals yet preferved of barbarous nations in
very ancient times. It is certain, from their hiftory, that
Bazen was contemporary with Auguftus, that he reigned
fixteen years, and that the birth of our Saviour fell on the
8th year of that prince, fo that the 8th year of Bazen was
the firft of Chrift.

Amua Yasous, prince of Shoa, a province to which the
fmall remains of the line of Solomon fled upon a cata-
ftrophe, I fhall have occafion to mention, gave me the fol-
lowing lift of the kings of Abyflinia fince the time of which
we are how fpeaking. From him I procured all the books
of the Annals of Abyffinia, which have ferved me to com-
pofe this hiftory, excepting two, one given me by the King,
the other the Chronicle of Axum, by Ras Michael Gover-
nar of Tigré, .

SHOA

$02 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
SHOA LIST OF PRINCES.

Bazen, Araad, |
Tzenaf Segued, Saladoba,
Garima Asferl, _ Alamida,
Saraada, Tezhana,
Tzion, Caleb, 522,
Sargai, Guebra Mafcal,
Bagamai, ‘Conftantine,
Jan Segued, Bazzer,
Tzion Heges, || Azbeha,.
Moal Genha, {77 Armaha,
Saif Araad, Jan Asfeha,
Agedar, Jan Segued,
Abreha and Atzbeha, 333, Fere Sanai,
Asfeha, Aderaaz,
Arphad and Amzi, Aizor,

Del Naad, 960*.

‘Turs lift is kept in the monaftery of DebraLibanos in Shoa;
the Abyflinians receive it without any fort of doubt, though
to me it feems very exceptionable: If it were genuine, it
would put this monarchy in a very refpectable light in
point of antiquity.

Great confufion has arifen in thefe old lifts, from their
kings having always two, and fometimes three names.
The

* The length of thefe princes reigns are fo great as to become incredible; but, as we have

nothing further of their hiftory but their names, we haye no data upon which to reform them.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 503

The firft is their chriftened name, their feconda nick, or bye-
name, and the third. they take upon their inauguration.
There is, likewife, another caufe of miflake, which is,.
when two mames occur, one of a king, the other the
quality of a king only, thefe are fet down as two brothers..
For example, Atzbeha is the dleféd, or the faint; and 1 very
much fufpect, therefore, that. Atzbeha: and Abreha, faid
to be two brothers, only mean Abraham. the d/efed, or. the
faint ; becaufe; in that prince’s time, the country was con-:
verted to: Chriftianity ;, Caleb * and. Elefbaas, were long
thought to: be contemporary princes, till. it. was found out, by
infpecting the ancient authors of thofe times, that this was-
only the name or quality of d/efed, or faint, given to Caleb, in.
confequence of his expedition into Arabia againft Phineas.
king of the Jews, and-perfecutor of the Chriftians..

THERE are four very interefting events, in:the courfe of:
the reign of thefe princes.. The firft.and- greateft we have
already mentioned, the birth of Chrift in the 8th year of Ba-.-
zen.. The fecond. is the converfion of Abyflinia to Chrifti--
anity, in: the reign.of Abreha and Atzbeha,.in the year of.
Chrift 333; according. to our. account.. The third the war:
with the Jews under. Caleb.. The fourth,.the maflacre of the:
princes on the mountain of Damo..The time and circumiftan--
ees of all thefe are well known, and I fhall relate them. in:
their turn with the brevity becoming a_hiflorian..

Some ecclefiaftical} writers, rather from attachment to par—
ticular fyftems, than from any conviction. that the opinion.
| they

* Caleb el Atfbeha, which has been made Elefbaas throwing away the t.
*-Surius Tom. 5.d. 24. O&. Card. Barontus. Tom. 7, Annal..A, C..522.N,.23-.

504. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER™

they efpoufe is truth, would perfuade us, that the converfion
of Abyflinia to Chriftianity happened at the beginning of
this period, that is, foon after the reign of Bazen ; others, that
Saint Matthias, or Saint Bartholomew, or fome others of the
Apoftles, after their miffion to teach the nations, firft preach-
ed here the faith of Chrift, and converted this people to. it.

It is alfo faid, that the eunuch baptized by Philip, upon his.
return to Candace, became the Apoftle of that nation, which,
from his preaching, believed in Chrift and his gofpel. All
thefe might pafs for dreams not worthy of examination, if |

they were not invented for particular purpofes.

Tint the death of Chrift, who lived feveral years after

Bazen, very few Jews had been converted even in Judea. We
have no account in {cripture that induces us to believe,
that the Apoftles went to any great diftance from each other
immediately after the crucifixion. Nay, we know. pofi-

tively, they did not, but lived in community together for a .

confiderable time. Befides, it is not probable, if the Abyi-
finians were converted by any of the Apoftles, that, for. the
{pace of 300 years, they fhould remain without bifhops, and
without church-government, inthe neighbourhood of many

ftates, where churches were already formed, without calling

to their affiftance fome members of thefe churches, who
might, at leaft, inform them of the purport of the coun-
cils held, and canons made by them, during that {pace of

300 years; for this was abfolutely neceffary to preferve or-.
thodoxy, and the communion between this, and the church-
es of that time. And it fhould be obferved, that if, in|

Philip’s time, the Chriftian religion had not penetrated (as
we fee in effect it had not) into the court of Candace, fo
much nearer Egypt, it did not furely reach fo early into the

more

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 505

more diftant mountainous country of Abyflinia; and if the
Ethiopia, where Candace reigned, was the fame as Abyflinia,
the ftory of the queen of Saba muft be given up as a falfe-
hood ; for, in that cafe, there would be a woman fitting up-
on the throne of that. country s00 years after fhe was ex-
cluded by a folemn deliberate fundamental law of the land.

But it is known, from credible writers, engaged in no
controverfy, that this Candace reigned upon the Nile in ©
Atbara, much nearer Egypt. Her capital alfo was taken in
the time of Auguftus, a few years before the Converfion, by
Philip; .and we {hall have occafion often to mention her fuc-
ceflors and her kingdom, as exifting in the reign of the Abyf
finian kings, long after the Mahometan conqueft; they ex-
ifted when I pafled through Atbara, and do undoubtedly exift
there to this day. What puts an end to all this argument
is a matter of fact, which is, that the Abyflinians continued
Jews and Pagans, and were found to be fo above 3co yea s
after the time of the Apoftles. Inftead, therefore, of taking
the firft of this lift (Bazen) for the prince under whem Abyf-
finia was converted from Judaifm, as authors have advanced,
in conformity to the Abyflinian annals, we fhall fix upon
the 13th (Abreha and Atzbeha, whom we believe to be but
one prince) and, before we enter into the narrative of that
remarkable event, we fhall obferve, that, from Bazen to .
Abreha, being 341 years inclufive, the eighth of Bazen be-
ing the firft of Chrift, by this account of the converfion,
which happened under Abreha and Atzbeha, it muft have
been about 333 years after Chrift, or 341 after Bazen.

But we certainly know, that the firft bifhop, ordained
for the converfion of Abyflinia, was fent from Alexandria by
Vor. I. 35 St

506 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

St Athanafius, who was himfelf ordained to that See about-
the year 326. Therefore, any account, prior to this ordina~-

tion and converfion, mutt be falfe, and this converfion and

ordination mutt have therefore happened about the year 330,,
or poffibly fome few years later ;. for Socrates* fays, that

St Athanafius himfelf was then but newly elected to the See

of Alexandria.

tw order to clear our way of difficulties, before we begin
the narrative of the converfion, we fhall obferve, in this.
place, the reafon I juft hinted at, why fome ecclefiaftical
writers had attributed the converfion of Abyflinia to the
Apoftles. There was found, or pretended to be found in
Alexandria, a canon, of a council faid to be that of Nice, and:
this canon had never before been known, nor ever'feen in
any other place, or in any language, except the Arabic; and,
from infpection, I may add, that it is fuch Arabic that fcarce
will convey the meaning it was intended. Indeed, if it be
conftrued according to the ftri& rule of grammar, it will
not convey any fenfe at all. This canon regulated the pre-
cedency of the Abuna of Ethiopia in all after councils, and
it places him immediately after the prelate of Seleucia.
This moft honourable antiquity was looked upon and boatt-
ed of for their own purpofes by the Jefuits, as a difcovery of
infinite value to the church of Ethiopia.

I sHaLt only make one other obfervation to obviate a dif-
ficulty which will occur in reading what is to follow. The
Abyffinian hiftory plainly and Pe fays, that when:

Frumentius

-* Ludolfy vol. 2. lib. iii, cap. 23

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 507

Frumentius (the apoftle of the Abyflinians) came firft into
that country, a queen reigned, which is an abfolute contra-
dictioh to what we have already ftated, and would feem to
favour the ftory of queen Candace. To this I anfwer,
That though it be true that all women are excluded from
the Abyflinian throne, yet it is as true that there is a law,
or cuftom, as ftrictly obferved as the other, that the queen
upon whofe head the king fhall have put the crown in his
life-time, it matters not whether it be her hufband or fon,
or any other relation, that woman is regent of the king-
dom, and guardian of every minor king, as long as fhe
fhall live. Suppofing, therefore, a queen to be crowned by
her hufband, which hufband fhould die and leave a fon,
all the brothers and uncles of that fon would be banifhed,
and confined prifoners to the mountain, and the queen
would have the care of the kingdom, and of the king, du-
ring his minority. If her fon, moreover, was to die, anda
minor fucceed who was a collateral, or no relation to her,
brought, perhaps, from the mountain, fhe would ftill be re-
gent; nor does her office ceafe but by the king’s coming of
age, whofe education, cloathing, and maintenance, fhe, in
the mean time, abfolutely dire¢ts, according to her own _
will; nor can there be another regent during her life-time,
This regent, for life, is called Ieghé; and this was probably
the fituation of the kingdom at the time we mention, as hi-
ftory informs us the king was then a minor, and confe-
quently his education, as well as the government of his
kingdom and houfehold, were, as they appear to have been,
in the queen, or Iteghe’s hands; of this office I fhall {peak
more in its proper place.

3-5 2 MEROPIUS

’

508 TRAVELS TO DISGOVER

Merovius, a philofopher at Tyre, a Greek by nation and
by religion, had taken a paflage in a {hip.on the Red Sea ta
India, and had with him two young men, Frumentitjs and
CEdefius, whom he intended to bring up to trade, after ha-
ving given them a very liberal education. It happened’
their veflel was caft away on a. rock. upon the coaft of A-
byffinia. Meropius, defending himfelf; was flain: by the
natives, andthe two boys carried: to. Axum, the capital of
Abyflinia, where the Court then refided. Though young;
they foon began to fhew the advantages attending:a liberal:
education. They acquired the language: very f{peedily ;
and, as that country is:naturally inclined: to admire ftran-
gers, thefe were foon looked upon as two prodigies. CGide+
fius, probably the dulleft of the two, was fet over the king’s
houfehold and wardrobe, a place that has been filled con=
ftantly by a ftranger of that nation to this.-very day.. Fru+
mentius was judged worthy by the queen to have the care
of the young prince’s education, to which. he dedicated.
himfelf entirely..

Arrer having inftruéted his pupil in all forts of learning;
he ftrongly imprefled him with a love and veneration for
the Chriftian religion; after which he himfelf fet out for
Alexandria, where, as has been already. faid,. he found St.
Athanafius *newly elected. to. that See.. |

He related to him briefly what had paffed in Ethiopia,
and the great hopes of the converfion of that nation, if pro-
per paftors were fent to inftruct them.. Athanafius embraced
that opportunity with all the earneftnefs that became his

ftation:

* Vid. Baron, tom. 4. p. 331. et alibi paffim..

THE SOURCE‘OF THE. NILE. 50m

ftation and profeflion. Me ordained Frumentius bifhop of
that country, who inftantly returned and found the young:
king his pupilin the fame good difpofition as formerly 3
he embraced Chrifhanity ; the greateft part of Abyflinia fol-
lowed his example, and the church of Ethiopia continued
with this bifhop in perfect unity and friendfhip till his
death; and though. great troubles arofe fromrherefies being.
propagated in the Eaft, that church, and the fountain whence
it derivedits faith (Alexandria,) remained uncontaminated by
any falfe doctrine..

Bur it was not long after this, that Arianifm broke out
under Conftantius the Emperor, and was ftrongly favoured.
by him. We have indeed a letter of St Athanafius to that
Emperor, who had applied to him to depofe Frumentius from
his See for refufing to embrace that herefy,. or admit it in-
to his diocefe..

Ir fhould feem, that this converfion of Abyffinia was:
quietly conducted, and without blood; and this is the more
remarkable, that it was the fecond radical change: of rel-
gion, effected in the fame manner; and with:the fame faci-
lity and moderation. No fanatic preachers, no warm. faints
or madmen, ambitious to make or to be made martyrs, di-
fturbed either of thefe happy events,in this wife, though
barbarous nation, fo as to involve them. in bloodfhed: na
perfecution was the:confequence of this difference of te-
nets, and if wars did follow, it was from matters merely
temporal, |

2 CHAP.

s10 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

CHA Pv,

War of the Elephant-—Firft Appearance of the Small-Pox— Fews perfex
cute the Chriftians in Arabia—Defeated by the Abyffinians—Mahomet
pretends a divine Miffion—Opinion concerning the Koran—Revolua
tion under Fudith—Reftoration of the Line of Solomon from Shoa.

{N the reigns of the princes Abreha and Atzbeha, the A-
| byffinian annals mention an expedition to have happens
ed into the fartheft part of Arabia Felix, which the Arabian
authors, and indeed Mahomet himfelf in the Koran calls by
the name of the War of the Elephant, and the caufe of it
was this. There was a temple nearly in the middle of the
peninfula of Arabia, that had been held in the greateft ve-
neration for about 1400 years. The Arabs fay, that Adam,
when fhut out of paradife, pitched his tent on this {pot ;
while Eve, from fome accident or other I am not acquaint-
ed with, died and was buried on the fhore of the Red Sea,
at Jidda. Two days journey eaft from this place, her grave,
of green fods about fifty yards in length, is {hewn to this
day. In this temple alfo was a black ftone, upon which
Jacob faw the vifion mentioned in fcripture, of the angels
defcending, and afcending into Heaven. It is likewife faid,
with more appearance of probability, that this temple was

B built

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. grr

built by Sefoftris,; in his voyage to Arabia Felix, and that
he was worfhipped there under the name of Ofiris, as he
then was in every part of Egypt.

_ THE great veneration the neighbouring nations paid to
this tower, and idol, fuggefted the very natural thought of
making the temple the market for the trade from Africa
and India; the liberty of which, we may fuppofe, had been
in fome meafure reftrained, by the fettlements which fo-
reign nations had made on both coafts of the Red Sea. To
remedy which, they chofe this town in the heart of the
country, acceffible on all fides, and commanded on none,
calling it Becca, which fignifies the Houfe; though Maho-
met, after breaking the idol and dedicating the temple to.
the true God, named it Mecca, under which name it has
continued, the centre or epeatt mart of the India trade to
this day...

In order to divert this trade into a channel more conve-
nient for his prefent dominions, Abreha built a very large
church or temple, in the country of the Homerites, and
nearer the Indian Ocean. To encourage alfo the refort to.
this place, he extended to it all the privileges, protection,
and emoluments, that belonged to the Pagan temple of
Mecca..

One particular tribe of Arabs, called Beni Koreifh, had
the care of the Caba, for fo the round tower of .Mecca was
called. Thefe people were exceedingly alarmed at the prof-
pec of their.temple being at once deferted, both by its vo-
taries and merchants, to prevent which, a party of them,
in the night, entered Abreha’s temple, and having firft

burned

Bo TRAVELS TO DISCOVER. -.

burned what part of it could be confumed, they polluted
the part that remained, by befmearing it over with human
excrements.

Tuts violent facrilege and affront was foon reported to
Abreha, who, mounted upon:a white elephant at the head of
a confiderable army, refolved, in return, to deftroy the temple
of Mecca. With this intent, he marched through that ftripe
of low country along the fea, called Tehama, where he met
with no oppofition, nor fuffered any diftrefs but from want of
‘water ; after which, at the head of his army, he fat down
before Mecca, as he fuppofed.

Asou THaces (Mahomet’s grandfather, as it is thought)
was then keeper of the Caba, who had intereft with his
countrymen the Beni Koreifh to prevail upon them to make
no refiftance, nor fhew any figns of wifhing to make a de-
fence. He had prefented himfelf early to Abreha upon his
march. There was a temple of Ofiris at Taief, which, as a
rival to that of Mecca, was locked upon by the Beni Koreifh
with a jealous eye. Abreha was fo far mifled by the mtel-
ligence given him by Abou Thaleb, that he miftook the
Temple of Taief for that of Mecca, and razed it to the
foundation, after which he prepared to return home.

He was foon after informed of his miftake, and not re-
penting of what he had already done, refolved to deftroy
Mecca alfo. Abou Thaleb, however, had never left his fide;
by his great hofpitality, and the plenty he procured to the
Emperor’s army, he fo gained Abreha, that hearing, on in-
quiry, he was no mean man, but a prince of the tribe of
Beni Koreith, noble Arabs, he obliged him to fit in his pre-

fence

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 513

fence, and kept him conftantly with him as a companion..
At laft, not knowing how to reward him fufficiently, Abre-
ha defired him to afk any thing in his power to grant, and
he would fatisfy him. Abou Thaleb, taking him at his
word, wifhed to be provided with a man, that fhould bring
back forty oxen, the aebsies had ftolen from him.

donate nan who enh ie that the favour he was to afk, was —
to {pare the Temple, which he had in that.cafe refolved in
his mind to do, could not conceal his aftonifhment at fo filly
a requeft, and he could not help teftifying this to Abou Tha-
leb, in a manner that fhewed it had lowered him in his ef~ »
teem. Abou Thaleb, fmiling, replied very calmly, If that
before you is the Temple of God, as I believe it is, you fhall
never deftroy it, if it is his will that it fhould ftand: If it is
not the Temple of God, or (which is the fame thing) if he.
has ordained that you fhould deftroy it, I fhall not only affitt
you in demolifhing it, but fhall help you in carrying away
the laft ftone of it upon my fhoulders: But as for me, I am
a fhepherd, and the care of cattle is my profeffion ; twenty
of the oxen which are ftolen are not my own, and I fhall
be put in prifon for them to-morrow ; for neither you nor I
can believe that this is an affair God will interfere in; and
therefore I apply to you fora foldier who will feek the
thief, and bring back my oxen, that my liberty be not ta-
ken from me.

AsreHA had now refrefhed his army, and, from regard
to his gueft, had not touched the Temple; when, fays the
Arabian author, there appeared, coming from the fea, a
flock of birds called Ababil, having faces like lions, and
each of them in his claws, holding a fmall ftone like a pea,

Vou. I, ae which

514 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

which he let fall upon Abreha’s army, fo that they all-were
deftroyed. The author of the manufcript * from which I
have taken this fable,'and which is alfo related by feveral
other hiftorians, and mentioned by Mahomet in the Koran,
does not feem to fwallow the ftory implicitly. For he fays,
that there is no bird that has a face like a.lion, that Abou
Thaleb was a Pagan, Mahomet being not then. come, and.
that the Chriftians were worfhippers of the true God, the God.
of Mahomet; and, therefore, if any miracle was wrought
here, it-was a miracle of the devil, a viGtory in favour of
Paganifm, and deftructive of the belief of the true God. In:
conclufion, he fays, that it was at this time that the {mall-pox
and meailes firft broke out in Arabia, and almoft totally def
troyed the army of Abreha. But if the ftone, as big asa.
pea, thrown by the Ababil, had killed Abreha’s army to the
laft man, it does not appear how any of them could die af-
terwards, cither by the fmall-pox or meailes.

Abr that a: material, however, to nes in this fact, is, that
the time of the fiege of Mecca will be the era of the firft
appearance of that terrible difeafe, the fmall-pox, which we
fhall fet down about the year 356; and it is-highly probable,.
from other circumftances, that the Abyflinian army-was the:
Arf victim. to-it,

As for the church Abreha built near the Indian Ocean, it
continued free from any further infult till the Mahometan
conqueft of Arabia Felix, when. it was finally deftroyed in.
the Khalifat}. of Omar.. This 1 is. the Abyflinian account, and

| this;

*EL Hameefy’s Siege of Mecca, } Fetaat_el Yemen..

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. “gts

this the Arabian hiftory of the War of the Elephant, which
‘T have ftated as found in the books of the moft credible wri-
ters of thofe times.

Bur it is °my-duty to put the reader upon his guard,
againft adopting literally what is here fet down, without
being fatisfied of the validity of the objection that may be
made againft the narrative in general. Abreha reigned 27
years; he was converted to Chriftianity in 333, and died in
360; now, it is fearcely poflible, in the fhort {pace of 27 years,
that all Abyflinia and Arabia could be converted to Chrifti-
anity. The converfion of the Abyflinians is reprefented to
be a work of little time, but the Arab author, Hameefy, fays,
that even Arabia Felix was full of churches when this expe-
dition took place, which is very improbable. And, what
adds ftill more to the improbability, is, that part of the ftory
which ftates that Abreha converfed with Mahomet’s father,
or grandfather. For, fuppofing the expedition in 356, Ma-
homet’s birth was in 558, fo there will remain 202 years,
by much too long a period for two lives. I do believe we
muft bring this expedition down much lower than the reign
of Abreha and Atzbeha, the reafon of brie we thal fee
afterwards.

As early as the commencement of the African trade with
Palcftine, the Jewith religion had fpread itfelf far into Ara-
bia, but, after the deftruction of the temple by Titus, a great
increafe both of number and wealth had made that people
abfolute mafters in many parts of that peninfula. In the
Neged, and as far up as Medina, petty princes, calling them-
felves kings, were eftablifhed; who, being trained in the
wars of Paleftine, became very formidable among the pa-

a2 cific

56 =~=Ssi‘<‘TRRAV'ELLS TO DISCOVER’

cific commercial nations of con wins seat funk into Greek
degeneracy.

PuIneEAs, a prince of that nation from Medina, having
beat St Aretas, the Governor of Nayiran, began to perfecute
the Chriftians by a new {fpecies of cruelty, by ordering cer-
tain furnaces, or pits full of fire, to be prepared, into which
he threw as many of the inhabitants of Najiran as refufed °
to renounce Chriftianity. Among thefe was Aretas, fo call-
ed by the Greeks, Aryat by the Arabs, and Hawaryat, which
fignifies the evangelical, by the Abyflinians, together. with
ninety of his companions. Mahomet, in his Koran, men-
tions, this tyrant by thename of the Mafter of the frery pits,
without either condemning or praifing the execution; only
faying, ‘the. fufferers fhall be witnedfs agauntt — at the
laft day.’

Justin, the Greek Emperor, was then employed in an
unfuccefsful’ war with the Perfians, fo that he could not
give any afliftance to the afflicted Chriftians in Arabia, but
in the year 522 he fent an embafly to Caleb, or Elefbaas,
king of Aby(flinia, intreating him to interfere in favour of
the Chriftians of Najiran, as he too was of the Greek church.
On the Emperor’s firft requeft, Caleb fent orders to Abreha,
Governor of Yemen, to march to the afliftance of Aretas, the’
fon of him who was burnt, and who was then collecting
troops. Strengthened by this reinforcement, the young fol-
dier did not think proper to delay the revenging his father’s:
death, till the arrival of the Emperor ; iat having come
up with Phineas, who was ferrying his troops over an arny
of the fea, he entirely routed them, and obliged their prince,
for fear of being taken, to fwim with his horfe to the near:

eft:

THPESSOURCE:OF‘THE NILE. - 29

eft fhore. It was not long before the Emperor had croffed
the Red Sea with his army ; nor had Phineas loft any time in
collecting his {cattered forces to oppofe him. A battle was the
confequence, in which the fortune of Caleb again prevailed. —

Ir would appear that the part of Arabia, near Najiran,
which was the fcene of Caleb’s victory, belonged to the
GrecianEmperor Juftin,becaufe Aretas applied directly to him
at Conftantinople for fuccour ; and it was at Juftin’s requeft
only, that Caleb marched to the affiftance of Aretas, as a
friend, but not as a fovereign; and as fuch alfo, Abreha,
Governor of Yemen, marched to affift Aretas, with the A-
byflinian troops, from the fouth of Arabia, againft the
ftranger Jews, who were invaders from Paleftine, and who.
had no connection with the Abyflinian Jewifh Homerites,.
natives of the fouth coaft of Arabia, oppofite to Saba.

Bur neither of the Jewifh kingdoms were deftroyed by.
the victories of Caleb, or Abreha,nor the fubfequent conquett
of the Perfians. In the Neged, or north part of Arabia,
they continued not only.after the appearance of Mahomet,
but till after the Hegira. For it was in the 8th year of that
era that Hybar, the Jew, was befieged in his own caftle in
Neged, and flain by Ah, Mahomet’s. fon-in-law, from that
time called Hydar Ali, or Ali the Lion.

Now the Arabian manufcripts fays pofitively that this
Abreha, who affifted Aretas, was Governor of Arabia Felix,
or Yemen; for, by this laft name, I fhall hereafter call the
part of the peninfula of Arabia belonging to. the Abyf-
finians; fo that he might very well have been the prince
who converfed with Mahomet’s father, and loft his army

before

518 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER.

before Mecca, which will bring down the introduction of
the fmall-pox to the year 522, juft 100 years before the He-
gira, and both Arabian and Abyfiinian accounts might be
then true. vl Ҥ bf ad bes iy care we

. Tue two. officers who, governed Yemen, and the eppofite
coaft Azab, which, as we have above mentioned, belonged
to Abyflinia, were ftiled Najafi, as was the king alfo, and
both of them were crowned with gold. I am, therefore,
perfuaded, this is the reafon of the confufion of names we
meet in Arabian manufcripts, that treat of the fovercigns of
Yemen. This, moreover, is the foundation of the ftory
found in Arabic manufcripts, that Jaffar, Mahomet’s brother,
fled to the Najafhi, who was governor of Yemen, and was
kindly treated by him, and Kept there till he jomed his bro-
ther at the campaign of Hybarea.. Soon after his great vies
tory over the Beni Koreifh, at the iaft battle of Beder Hu-
nein, Mahomet is faid to have written to the fame Najafhi
a letter of thanks, for his kind entertainment of his brother;
inviting him (as a reward).to embrace his religion, which
the Najafhi is {uppofed to have immediately complied with;
Now, all this is in the Arabic books, and all this is true, as
far as we can conjecture from the accounts of thofe times,
very partially writ by a fet of warm-headed. bigotted zea-
lots; fuch as ail Arabic authors (hiftorians of the time) un-
doubtedly are. The error only lies in the application of
this ftory to the Najafhi, or king of Abyflinia, fituated far
from the fcene of thefe actions, on high cold mountains,
very unfavourable to thofe rites, which, in low flat and
warm countries, have been temptations to flothful and in-
active men to embrace the Mahometan religion.

A mosT

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 516

A Most fhameful proftitution of manners prevailed’ in
the Greek churchi‘as alfo inntimerable herefies, which ware
firft received: as true tenets of their religion, but were foon
after perfecuted in a moft uncharitable manner, as being
erroneous: Their lies, their legends, their faints and mi-
racles, and; above all, the abandoned behaviour of the
priefthood, had brought their characters in Arabia almoft
as low ‘as that of the detefted Jew, and, had they been confi-
dered in their true ict ere had been {till lower..

THE dicrates of nature: in the shed of the honeft Pagan,
conflantly employed.in long, lonely, and dangerous voyages,
awakened him often: to: refle@ who that Providence was
that invifibly governed him, fupplied his wants, and often.
mercifully faved him from the deftruction into which his
own ignorance or rafhnefs were leading him. Poifoned by
no fyftem, perverted by no prejudice, he wifhed to know
and adore his Benefactor, with purity and fimplicity of heart,
free from thefe fopperies and follies with which ignorant
priefts and’'monks had difguifed his worfhip: Pofleffed of
charity, fteady in his’duty to his parents, full of veneration
for his fuperiors, attentive and merciful even to his beafts 3.
in’ a word, containing in his heart the principles of the firft
religion, which. God had inculcated in the heart of Noah,
the Arab was already prepared to embrace a much more per--
fect one than what Chriftianity, at that time, disfigured by:
folly and fuperitition, appeared to him to:be..

Mauomet, of the tribe of Beni Koreith (at whofe infti-
gation is uncertain) took upon himfelf to be the apoftle of
a new religion, pretending to have, for his only object, the
worthip of the true God. Oftenfibly full of the morality of

\. the

k20 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER ©

the Arab, of patience and felf-denial, fuperior even to what.
is made neceflary to falvation by the gofpel, his- ‘religion;
at the bottom, was but a fyftem of. blafphemy and falfe-+
hood, corruption and injuftice.. Mahomet and his tribe
were moft profoundly ignorant.; There was not among
them but one man that could write, and it was not doubt-
ed he was to be Mahomet’s fecretary, but unfortunately Ma-
homet could not read his writing. The ftory of the angel
who brought him leaves of the Koran is well known, and.
fo is all the reft of the fable. The wifer part of his own re-
lations, indeed, laughed at the impudence of his pretending
to have a communication with angels. Having, however,
gained, as his apoftles, fome of the beft foldiers of the tribe
of Beni Koreifh, and perfifting with great uniformity in
all his meafures, he eftablifked.a new religion upon. the
ruins of idolatry and Sabaifm, in the very temple of Mecca.

_ Notruine fevere was injoined by Mahomet, and the fre-
quent prayers and wafhings with water which he directed,
were gratifications to a fedentary people in a very hot
country. The lightnefs of this yoke, therefore, recommend-.
ed it rapidly to thofe who were difgufted with long faft-
ing, penances, and pilgrimages. The poifon of this falfe,
yet not fevere religion, fpread itfelf from that fountain to
all the trading nations: India, Ethiopia, Africa, all Afia,
fuddenly embraced it; and every caravan carried into the
bofom of its country people not more attached to trade,
than zealous to preach and propagate their new faith. The
Temple of Mecca (the old rendezvous of the Indian trade)
perhaps was never more frequented than it is at this day,
and the motives of the journey are equally trade and reli-
gion, as they were formerly. ye ti
3 I SHALL

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 522

~ Isnatt here mention, that the Arabs begun very foon to
ftudy letters,and came to be very partial to their own lan- |
guage; Mahomet himfelf fo much {0, that he held out his
Koran, for its elegance alone, as a greater miracle than that
of raifing the dead. This was not univerfally allowed at
that time ;. as there were even then compofitions fuppofed
to equal, if not to furpafs it. In my time, I have feen in Bri-
tain a fpirit of enthufiafm for this book in preference to
all: others, not inferior to that which poffeffed Mahomet’s
followers. Modern unbelievers (Sale and his difciples) have
gone every length, but to fay directly that it was dictated
by the Spirit of God. Excepting the command in Genefis
chap.i. ver. 3. “ And God faid, Let there be light; and there
was light;”’ they defy us to fhew ‘in fcripture a paflage
equalin fublimity to many inthe Koran. — Following, with-
out inquiring, what has been handed down from one to
the other, they would cram us with abfurdities, which no
man of fenfe can fwallow. They fay the Koran is compo-
fed-in a ftyle the moft pure, and chafte, and that the tribe
of Beni Koreifh was the moft polite, learned, and noble of
all the Arabs. ; !

Bur to this I anfwer—The Beni Koreifh were from the
earlieft days, according to their own * account, part efta-
blifhed at Mecca, and part as robbers on the fea-coaft, and
they were ali children of Ifhmae]l. Whence then came
their learning, or their fuperior nobility ? Was it found in
the defert, in the temple, or did the robbers bring it from
the fea? Soiouthy, one of thofe moft famous then for .

Vou. L Moriya: ' knowledge

* El Hameefy.

522 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

knowledge in the Arabic, has quoted from the Koran many
hundred words, either Abyfiinian, Indian, Perfian, Ethiopic,
Syrian, Hebrew, or Chaldaic, which he brings back to the
root, and afcribes them to the nation they came from. In-
deed it could not be otherwife ;- thefe caravans, continually
crowding with their trade to Mecca, muft have. vitiated the
original tongue by an introduction of new terms and new
idioms, intoa language labouring under a penury of vocabu-
les.* But fhall any one for this perfuade me, that a book is a
model of pure, elegant, chafte Englith, in which there fhall
be a thoufand words of Welfh, Irifh, Gaelic, French, -
Spanifh, Malabar Mexican, and Laponian ? What would be
thought of fuch a medley ? ‘or, at leaft, could it be recom-
mended as a pattern for writing pure Englifh?

Wuar I fay of the Koran may be applied to the lan-
guage of Arabia in general: when it is called a copious
language, and profeffors wifely tell you, that there are fix
hundred words for a fword, two hundred for honey, and
three hundred that fignify a lion, ftill I muft obferve, that
this is nota copious language, but a confufion of languages:
thefe, inftead of diftinct names, are only different epithets.
For example, a lion in Enghih may be called a young lion, a
white lion, a {mall lion, a big lion: I ftyle him moreover the
fierce, the cruel, the enemy to man, the beaft of the defert,
the king of beafts, the lover of blood. Thus it is in Ara-
bic; and yet it is faid that all thefe are words for a lion.
Take another example in a {word ; the cutter, the divider,
the friend of man, the mafter of towns, the maker of widows,
the fharp, the ftraight, the crooked; which may be faid in
Englith as well as in Arabic,

THE

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE = 523

Tue Arabs were a people who lived in a country, for the
moft part, defert ; their dwellings were tents, and their prin-
cipal occupation feeding and breeding cattle, and they mar-
ried with their own family. The language therefore of fuch
a people fhould be very poor; there is no variety of images
in their whole country. They were always bad poets, as
their works will teftify; and if, contrary to the general rule,
the language of Arabia Deferta became a copious one, it
muft have been by the mixture of fo many nations mect=
ing and trading at Mecca. It muft, at the fame time, have
been the moft corrupt, where there was the greateft con-
courfe of ftrangers, and this was certainly among the Beni
Koreifh at the Caba. When, therefore, I hear people praift-
ing the Koran for the purity of its ftyle, it puts me in mind
of the old man in the comedy, whofe reafon for loving his
nephew was, that he could read Greek; and being aiked
if he underftood the Greek fo read, he anfwered, Not a word
of it, but the rumbling of the found pleafed him.

Tue war that had diftracted all Arabia, firft between the
Greeks and Perfians, then between Mahomet and the Arabs,in
fupport of his divine miffion, had very much hurt the trade
carried on by univerfal confent at the Temple of Mecca.
Caravans, when they dared venture out, were furprifed up-
on every road, by the partizans of one fide or the other. Both
merchants and trade had taken their departure to the fouth-
ward, and eftablifhed themf{elves fouth of the Arabian Gulf,
in places which (in ancient times) had been the markets
for commerce, and the rendezvous of merchants. Azab, or
Saba, was rebuilt ; alfo Raheeta, Zeyla, Tajoura, Soomaal, in
the Arabian Gulf, and a number of other towns on the In-
dian Ocean, The conqueft of the Abyffinian territories in

3U2 Arabia

524 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Arabia forced all thofe that yet remained to take refuge om
the African fide, in the little diftritts which now grew into
confideration. Adel, Mara, Hadea, Aufla, Wypo, Tarfhith,
and a number of other ftates, now affumed the name of
kingdoms, and foon obtained power and wealth fuperior to
many older ones.

Tue Governor of Yemen (or Najafhi) converted now to
the faith of Mahomet, retired to the African fide of the
Gulf. His government, long ago, having been fhaken to
the very foundation by the Arabian war, was at laft totally

deftroyed. But the Indian trade at Adel wore a face of

profperity, that had the features. of ancient times.

Witnour taking notice of every objection, and anfwer=. |

ing it,, which has too polemical an appearance for a. work
of this kind, I hope I have removed the greateft part of the
reader’s difficulties, which have, for a long time, lain in the
‘way, towards his underftanding this part of the hiftory.
There is one, however, remains, which the Arabian hiftori-.
ans have mentioned, viz. that this Najafhi, who embraced
the faith of Mahomet, was avowedly of the royal family of
Abyfflinia. To this I anfwer, he certainly was a perfon of
that rank, and was undoubtedly a nobleman, as there is no:
mobility in that country but from relationfhip to the king,

and no perfon can be related to the king by the male line:

But the females, even the daughters of thofe princes who
are banifhed to the mountain, marry whom they pleafe ;
and all the defcendents of that marriage become noble, be-
eaufe they mutft be allied to the king. So far then they may.
truly affert, that the Mahometan Governor of Yemen, and
his pofterity, were this way related to the king of Abyflinia.

But

:
:

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 525

But the fuppofition that any heirs male of this family be-
came muffulmen, is, beyond any fort of doubt, without foun-
dation or probability. .

Omar, after fubduing Egypt, deftroyed the valuable libra-
ry at Alexandria, but his fucceffors thought very differently
from him in the article of profane learning. Greek. books
of all kinds (efpecially thofe of Geometry, Aftronomy, and.
Medicine,) were fearched for every where and tranflated.
Sciences flourifhed and were encouraged. Trade at the
fame time kept pace, and increafed with knowledge. Geo-
graphy and aftronomy were every where diligently ftudied
and folidly applied to make the voyages of men from place
to place fafe and expeditious. The Jews (conftant fervants.
of the Arabs). imbibed a confiderable {hare of their tafte fos
earning.. 7

Tuey had, at this time; increafed very much in number.
By the violence of the Mahometan conquefts in Arabia and
Egypt, where their feé did principally prevail, they became
very powerful in Abyflinia; Arianifm, and all the various
herefies. that diftracted the Greek church, were received
there in their turn from Egypt; the bonds of Chriftianity
were diflolved, and people in general were much more wil-
ling to favour a new religion, than to agree with, or coun-
tenance any particular one of their own, if it differed from
that which they adopted in the mereft trifle. This had def-
troyed their metropolis in Egypt, juft now delivered up to”
the Saracens ; and the difpofition of the Abyflinians feemed
fo very much to refemble their brethren the Cophts, that
a revolution in favour of Judaifm was thought full as.
feafible in the country, as it had been in Egypt in favour

z ag

$26 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

of the newly-preached, but unequivocal religion of Maho-
met.

Aw independent fovereignty, in one family of Jews, had
always been preferved on the mountain of Samen, and the
royal refidence was upon a high-pointed rock, called the
Jews Rock: Several other inacceflible mountains ferved as
natural fortreffes for this people, now grown very confider-
able by frequent acceffions of ftrength from Paleftine and
Arabia, whence the Jews had been expelled. Gideon and Ju-
dith were then king and queen of the Jews, and their dangh-
ter Judith (whom in Amhara they call Efher, and fometimes
Saat, i.e. fire*,) was a woman of great beauty, and talents for
intrigue; had been married to the governor ofa fmall diftrict
called Bugna, in the neighbourhood of Lafta, both which
countries were likewife much infected with Judaifm. |

Jupiru had made fo ftrong a party, that fhe refolved to
attempt the fubverfion of the Chriftian religion, and, with
it, the fucceflion in the line of Solomon. The children of
the royal family were at this time, in virtue of the old law,
confined on the almoft inacceffible mountain of Damo in
Tigré. The fhort reign, fudden and unexpected death of
the late king Aizor,and the defolation and contagion which
an epidemical difeafe had fpread both in court and capital,
the weak ftate of Del Naad who was to fucceed Aizor and
was an infant; all thefe circumftances ‘together? imprefled
Judith with an idea that now was the time to place her fa-
aauly upon the nh sig and eftablifh her religion by the
extirpation

* She is alfo called by Victor, Tredda Gahez.

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 527

éxtirpation of the race of Solomon. Accordingly fhe fur-
prifed the rock Damo, and flew the whole princes there, to
the number, it is -faid, of about goo.

Some nobles of Amhara, upon the firft news of the cataf-
trophe at Damo, conveyed the infant king Del Naad, now
the only remaining prince of his race, into the powerful
and loyal province of Shoa, and by this means the royal
family was preferved to be again reftored. -Judith took
_poffeffion of the throne in defiance of the law of the queen
of Saba, by this the firft interruption of the fucceflion in the
line of Solomon, and, contrary to what might have been ex-
pected from the violent means fhe had ufed to acquire ihe
crown, fhe not only enjoyed it herfelf during a long reign of
40 years, but tranfmitted it alfo to five of her pofterity, all of
them barbarous names, originating probably in Lafta: Thefe
are {aid to be, :

_ Totadem,
Jan Shum,
Garima Shum,
Harbai,
Marari.

Auruors, as well Abyflinian as European, have differed
widely about the duration of thefe reigns. All that the
Abyilinians are agreed upon is, that this whole period was
one fcene of murder, violence, and oppreflion,

Jupiru and her defcendents were fuccecded by relations
of their own, a noble family of Lafta. The hiftory of this.
revolution, or caufe of it, are loft and unknown in tie coun-

try, and therefore vainly fought after elfewhere. What we
, 4 know

528 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

know is, that with them the court returned to the Chriftiaa
religion, and that they were ftill as different from their pre-
deceflors in manners as. in religion. Though ufurpers, as
were the others, their names are preferved with eveny mark
of kin and veneration. ‘They are,
Tecla Haimanout,
Kedus Harbé,
Itibarek,
Lalibala,
Imeranha Chrittos,
Naacueto Laab.

Nor being kings of the line of Solomon, no part of their
hiftory is recorded in the annals, unlefs that of Lalibala, who
lived in the end of the twelfth, or beginning of the thir
_ teenth century, and was a faint. The whole period of the
ufurpation, comprehending the long reign of Judith, will by
this account be a little more than 300 years, in which time
eleven princes are faid to have fat upon the throne of So-
Jomon, fo that, fuppofing her death to have been in the
year rooo, each of thefe princes, at an average, will have
been a little more than twenty-four years, and this is too

¢

much. But all this period is involved in darknefs. We .-

might guefs, but fince we are not able todo more, it anfwers
no good purpofe to do fo much. J have followed the hif-
tories and traditions which are thought the moft authen-
tic in the country, the fubject of which they treat, and where
I found them; and though they may differ from other ac-

counts given io European authors, this does not influence me, ~

as I know that none of thefe authors could have any other
authorities than thofe I have teen, and the difference only
smuft

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 529

muft be the fruit of idle i imagination, and ill-founded con-
jectures of their own.

In the reign of Lalibala, near about the 1200, there was
a great perfecution in Egypt againft the Chriftians, after
the Saracen conqueft, and efpecially againft the mafons,
builders, and hewers of ftone, who. were looked upon by .
the Arabs as the greateft of abominations; this prince open-
ed an afylum in his dominions to all fugitives of that kind, -
of whom he collected a prodigious number. Having be-
fore him as fpecimens the ancient works of the Troglo-
dytes, he directed a number of churches to be hewn out of
the folid rock in his native country of Lafta, where they
remain untouched to this day, and where they will proba-
bly continue till the lateft pofterity. Large columns with-
in are formed out of the folid rock, and every fpecies of or-
nament preferved, that would have been executed in build-
ings of feparate and detached ftones, above ground.

Tuis prince undertook to realize the favourite preten-
fions of the Abyflinians, to the power of turning the Nile
out of its courfe, fo that it fhould no longer be the caufe of
the fertility of Egypt, now in poffeffion of the enemies of
his religion. We may imagine, if it was in the power of
man to accomplifh this undertaking, it could have fallen in-
_ tono better hands than thofe to whom Lalibala gave the ex-
ecution of it ; people driven from their native country by
thofe Saracens who now were reaping the benefits of the
river, in the places of thofe they had forced to feek habi-
tations far from Ls, benefit and rete afforded by its
ftream. | ay

Vou. I... . ra) 19€ THis

sjo . TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

Turs:prince did not adopt the: wild idea of turning the
courfe of the Nile out of its prefent channel; upon the pof
fibility or impoflibility of which, the argument (fo warmly ~
and fo-long agitated).always moft improperly turns. His.
idea was to famifh Egypt :. and, as the fertility of that coun-.
try depends not upon the ordinary ftream,, but the extraor-.
dinary increafe-of it by the tropical rains, he is. faid to.
have found, by an exact furvey and calculation,:that there:
ran on the {ummit, or higheft: part of the country, feverak:
rivers which:could be intercepted by mines, and.their{tream:
directed into the low country fouthward, inftead of joining:
the Nile, augmenting it and.running northward... By. this,
he found he fhould be able-fo-to difappoint its increafe, that.
it never, would rife to a-height proper to fit Egypt for culti--
vation. And thus far he-was warranted in his ideas of fuc--
ceeding. (as Ihave been informed. by the people. of that.
country), that he did interfect and carry into the Indian Q-. |
cean, two very large rivers, which have ever fince flowed:
that way, and he was carrying a level.to the lake Zawaia, ,
where many rivers empty themfelves in the beginning of:
the rains, which would have effectually diverted the courfe-
of them all, and could not but in fome degree diminifh the-
current. below..

Deartu, the ordinary enemy of.all thefe ftupendous Her=-
culean undertakings, interpofed too here, and put a ftop to
this enterprize of Lalibala. But Amha Yafous, prince of:
Shoa (in whofe country part of thefe immenfe works were)
a young man of great underftanding, and-with whom I li-.
ved feverai months in the moft intimate friendfhip at Gon-
dar, affured me that they were vifible to this day; and that
they were of a kind whofe ufe could not be miftaken; that:
2 he

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 531

he himfelf had often vifited them, and was convinced the un-
dertaking was very poffible with fuch hands, and in the cir-
cumftances things then were. He told me likewife, that, in a
written account which he had feen in Shoa,it was faid that
this prince was not interrupted by death in his underta-
king, but perfuaded by the monks, that if a greater quan-
tity of water was let down into the dry kingdoms of Hadea,
Mara, and Adel, increafing in population every day, and,
even now, almoft equal in power to Abyflinia itfelf, thefe
barren kingdoms would become the garden of the world;
and fuch a number of Saracens, diflodged from Egypt by
the firft appearance of the Nile’s failing, would fly thither:
that they would not only withdraw thofe countries from
their obedience, but be ftrong enough to over-run the whole
kingdom of Abyffinia. Upon this, as Amha Yafous informed
me, Lalibala gave over his firft fcheme, which was the fa-
mifhing of Egypt; and that his next was employing the
men in fubterraneous churches; a ufelefs expence, but more
devel. to the underftanding of common men than the for-
mer.

Don RopErico pe Lrma, ambaflador from the king of
Portugal, in 1322 faw the remains of thefe vaft works, and
travelled in them feveral days, as we learn from Alvarez
the chaplain and hiftorian of that embafly*, which we {hall
fake notice of in its proper place.

Larizara was diftinguifhed both as a poet and an ora-
tor. The old fable, of a fwarm of bees hanging to his lips
a2 . in

% See Alvarez, his relation of this Embafly,

532 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

+ Deas

in the adi is cone and applied to him as foretelling:
the fweetnefs of his elocution..

To Lalibala fucceeded Imeranha Chriftos, remarkable for
nothing but being fon of fuch a father as Lalibala, and fa-
ther to fuch a fon as Naacueto Laab; both of them diftin-
guifhed for works very extraordinary, though very differ-.
ent in their kind. The firft, that is thofe of the father we:
have already hinted at, confifting in great mechanical un-
dertakings. The other was an operation of the mind, of:
ftill more difficult nature, a victory over ambition, the vol--
untary abdication of a crown to which he fucceeded withe. ~
out imputation of any crime._ _ |

TecLaA HaimANouT, a monk and native of Abyffinia, had’
been ordained Abuna, and had founded the famous monaf- .
tery of Debra Libanos in. Shoa. He was a man at once cele-
brated for the fan¢tity of his life, the goodnefs of -his under-
ftanding, and love to-his country; and, by an extraordinary
influence, obtained over the reigning king Naacueto Laab,
he perfuaded him, for confcience fake, to refign a crown,
which (however it might be faid with truth, that he re-
ceived it from his father) could never be purged from the.
{tain and. crime of ufurpation. |

In all this time, the line of Solomon had been continued |
from Del Naad, who, we have feen, had efcaped from the
-mafflacre of Damo, under Judith. Content with poflefling :
the loyal province of Shoa, they continued their royal refi-
dence there, without having made one attempt, as far as.
hiftory tells us, towards recovering their ancient kingdom..

RACE .

as

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 538

RACE or SOLOMON BaNIsHED, BUT REIGNING IN SHOA.

Del Naad,
Mahaber Wedem;.
Igba Sion,
Tzenaf Araad,.
Nagafh Zaré,.
Asfeha,

Jacob,.

Bahar Segued,
Adamas Segued;.
Icon Amlac.

Naacueto Laas, of the houfe of Zague, was, it here
a:juft and peaceable prince.. :

Unper the mediation of Abuna Tecla Haimanout, a:
treaty was made between him and Icon Amlac confifting
of four articles, all very extraordinary in their. kind.

Tue firt was, that Naacueto Laab, prince of thé houfe of
Zague, fhould forthwith refign the kingdom of Abyflinia
to Icon Amlac, reigning prince of the line of Solomon then:
in Shoa.. |

Tue fecond, that a portion of lands-in Lafta- fhould be
given to Naacueto Laab and his heirs in abfolute property, .
irrevocably and irredeemably ; that he fhould preferve, as
marks of fovereignty, two filver kettle-drums, or nagareets ;_
that the points of the fpears of his guard, the globes that
furmounted his fendeck, (that is the pole upon which the

ay colours.

534 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER

colours are carried), fhould be filver, and that he fhould fit
upon a gold ftool, or chair, in form of that ufed by the kings
of Abyflinia; and that both he and his defcendents fhould
be abfolutely free from all homage, fervices, taxes, or pub-
lic burdens for ever, and ftiled Kings of Zague, or the Laf-
ta king. , | ?

Tue third article was, That one third of the kingdom
fhouid be appropriated and ceded abfolutely to the A-

buna himfelf, for the maintenance of his own ftate, and —

fupport of the clergy, convents, and churches in the king-

dom ; and this became afterwards an era, or epoch, in Abyf-

finian hiftory, called the era of partition.

Tue fourth, and laft article, provided, that no native Abyf-
finian could thereafter be chofen Abuna, and this even tho’
he was ordained at, and fent from Cairo. In virtue of this
treaty, concluded and folemnly fworn to, Icon Amlac took
poffeffion of his throne, and the other contracting parties
of the provifions refpectively allotted them.

THE part of the treaty that fhould appear moft liable to
be broken was that which erected a kingdom within a
kingdom. However, it is one of the remarkable facts in
the annals of this country, that the article between Icon
. Amlac and the houfe of Zagué was obferved for near 500
years; for it was made before the year 1300, and never
was broken, but by the treacherous murder of the Zaguean
prince by Allo Fafil in the unfortunate war of Begemder, in
the reign of Joas 1768, the year before I arrived in Abyfii-

mia; neither has any Abuna native of Abyflinia ever been.

known fince that period. As for the exorbitant grant of one
7 third

THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 535

third of the kingdom: to the Abuna, it has been in great:
meafure refumed, as we may naturally fuppofe, upon differ-
ent pretences of mifbehaviour, true or alledged, by the king.
or his minitters, the firft. great invafion of it being in the-
fubfequent reign of king Theodorus, who, far from. lofing-
popularity by this infraction, has-been ever Feqhonee mos--
del.for-fovereigns..

2
END OF. VOLUME FIRST.

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